Crazy ideas that just might work.

Get out of Iraq.
Read a book.
Write a letter.
Shop at home.
Bet on the Twins to win the pennant.
Save the Blanchard Bridge.
Enjoy a potato product every day, compliment someone every day, tell your children how precious they are, tell your parents and grandparents how precious they are, turn off the TV and pick up a novel, take the long way home.
Little things like that.
Just do it.
Next time your given a cup of coffee, smile and say, “If I’m not mistaken, this just might be the finest cup of coffee I’ve ever tasted.”
The same works for caramel rolls, apple pie, your noonday roast beef sandwich on wheat bread, lightly buttered and layered with fresh lettuce and a cover of Mayonnaise.
Hold the pickles, thank you.
Hold the door open for the person coming in the store behind you, which most of us do anyway, but this time smile all the while.
Invite the minister over for supper.
Out of the blue, send a check to a charitable organization.
Subscribe for two years to your weekly newspaper, explaining to the editor, “I feel lucky.” You might want to add, the paper’s that good.
Tell the people you work with that they’re the best in the world, that you couldn’t be happier and that —together, we can make this work.
Wait a minute, you’re saying.
There is a limit.
You might be right.
“Tell the boss that,” you’re saying.
Good plan.
Crazier ideas that just might work —
Next time you see your mechanic, plumber and electrician, tell them, “It’s a good thing we have you on the planet, otherwise my world would stop turning.”
Next time the family car brings everyone safely home, pat the car on the hood and announce: “Good work, bud.”
I understand that if you follow these rules of the road you stand a good chance of being committed by your family, friends or co-workers.
Is it worth the risk?
Of course it is.
Then again . . .
Imagine the outcry when you’re being evaluated at the local hospital first, then the nearest state facility, where mental patients are branded, doped and tied to beds, not necessarily in that order.
“You sent us this person because he was being a good guy?”
“He was telling everyone, ‘Good job,’ from his mechanic to his minister to his doctor to his plumber to his former coach to his banker to his first wife.”
The doctor: “This is over the top behavior, you’re right. It’s best if we keep this person under wraps. Until he comes to his senses.”
Praise the Lord, and pass the biscuits.
“Don’t forget to take your medication, Mr. Nelson.”
You bet.