Whether you’re in second grade or you’re in your second year of college, it doesn’t hurt to have some manners.

We’ve been taught since we were in elementary school that we “should treat people the way we would want to be treated”. That being polite and having manners should be a priority when we go about life. That we should use our words instead of our hands. Even though it sounds cliché, and even though it is often taught to school children, it should be the way that we all act—anyone of any age. The world would be a brighter and a happier place if we all just follow this simple sentence, this sentence that second graders so often get scolded for not following.

Tell me, what do you earn, what do you gain, when you talk with your fists instead of your words? And if you do decide to use your words, would it be more beneficial to speak with words dipped in icing and sweetness or to speak with words that drip with malice and violence? Which option will get your point across in a more effective and more meaningful manner? Which tactic will make the other party feel empathy or understand the root of your problems? Which way will make people want to listen and to understand you? How will you choose to find a solution; will you lash out and act like a child, or will you grow up and approach these things like an adult?

And there is no excuse. There is no excuse to act out and make threats left and right and up and down. Whether you have something personal going on in your life or you think someone else was not acting properly or said something that offended you—there is still no excuse to choose violence. There is absolutely no excuse to be rude. There is no excuse to have your manners be absent. If we all learned to approach our situations with a calm and clear head and with our feet on the ground, the results will come out much better.

So therefore, if you want to have a more fulfilling life, a life that isn’t so dark, please learn some manners. This applies to second graders and second year college students.