Sometimes I think that we give out praise too much, too easily, and too often.

The other day I was on LinkedIn and I came across a story that a young girl (granted she could have been my age or just a few years younger) posted about her dog and being able to bring it to the a Minneapolis Target that had just advertised that they're allowing dogs to come in the store. She described how an employee there was afraid of big dogs and how one day the employee thanked her for bringing in her well behaved bigger dog as it helped the employee over come their fear of dogs. The girl went on to describe how it was a touching moment that brought tears to her eyes as she realized that such a simple joy for her was life changing for an other person.

It was a very cute story that ended up going decently viral on LinkedIn. Everyone was commenting on it with such praise and joy. Then there was me, sitting at my computer, and all I could think of... all I wanted to comment on the post was:

"Young 20-something realizes her actions has consequences beyond her own life."

Seriously! Why do we give out such praise to people who just realize a simple life lesson that most of us realized when we were ten years old?! It will continue to baffle me until it stops. Which it most likely wont.

Granted, it is probably a good thing that we share stories like these and praise them the way we do because it creates this narrative that anyone could relate to. With enough of these stories going around and with enough positivity that accompanies them, maybe it could change someone's life. Someone who is struggling to develop into a better person. Someone who was given no tools, had none to little guidance on how to be a decent person. Maybe posts like these will help them overcome and be that amazing person that is in them.

Or maybe we just need to realize that it is not praise worthy to be a decent human. It is just part of being human, and hopefully we can make it be an expectation.