None Of My Business. Yes.

 

That is an acronym that I have been hanging on my mental key chain lately. It is astonishing how often my impulse is to have an opinion... about how much someone spent on shoes, or the way they wear their hair. Then is the next rung of personal decisions, like how many kids they have, or how they raise them. Who and when they marry. 

 

Don't I have enough to fill the time just monitoring my own life? The part that really irks me is when I sweep in with a verdict based on precisely twenty seconds of information, when the person actually living these circumstances has wrestled with a complex system of moving parts for years. But I am oh so worthy to trump all that and let my opinion fall like a gavel. These are often people I have never so much as held the door for when they were Christmas shopping and their feet hurt, and the pile of packages reached to their chin. But I feel entitled to hand them my two cents. 

 

"Here, hold that too," as I perch a pair of pennies on top of the teetering stack. 

 

Nomby. 

 

It is actually calming, when I manage to pull it off. Having stances takes energy. Non renewable, as far as I can tell. And the pay off is absolutely nil. For me or for them. Certainly not for them. 

 

One of the things I enjoy about small children is that they have not yet been sold on the ideology of Having Opinions. Oh, they like Anna, and Belle. Brownies more than cupcakes. And if you inquire whether they want the blue bowl or the pink one they have an answer ready. But I have yet to hear a three year old tsk tsk at my wardrobe. 

 

"You have two different socks!" No judgment. Just joy. 

 

I did have a small person once comment on the obvious dirtiness of my pants, which I should have changed. I guess.

 

"We have a machine RIGHT INSIDE OUR HOUSE that washes clothes! I will ask my mom where you can get one!"

 

But there was no mocking. He was just happy to share a tidbit of helpful information. In case I hadn't heard.

 

Flowers too, are immune to pontificating about such influences as weather, and soil conditions. They either grow or they don't. No huffing. 

 

For now I will stick with nomby. I know that acronyms are meant to be all caps but in the pursuit of added humility I will go with small.