Be good to snotty noses, be good to people

I've had some snotty noses in my life lately, and they have again given me instruction and reproof.

If you want your snotty nose to recover quickly and avoid earaches and sinus infections, your snotty nose demands two things of you: 1) Don't snuffle! 2) Blow gently, never hard!

If you ignore this advice and mistreat your snotty nose, you can expect sinus trouble and maybe an earache, and your snotty nose will stay that way a long time.

But this is not really about the care of snotty noses. I've been reminded again that people need the same consideration: 1) We can't cork them up so they don't run just because their snot doesn't look good, and 2) We can't use unjust or unnecessary roughness to unplug them.

When I ignore this advice, headaches and ear trouble abound all the way around, and people don't get better. It would be good for me if I could attain to this wisdom enough to apply it consistently. Unfortunately, my skill with sick people still falls far short of my skill with snotty noses. I have not yet learned as I should from those noses, even my own!