Being a Mensch.

My favorite movie is The Apartment by Billy Wilder starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine.  It's a great film; it has some great lines and this one wonderful diatribe.

This is a great scene in the film.

CC Baxter's neighbor is Dr. Dreyfuss and he's had enough of what he thinks Mr. Baxter is.  He's telling Mr. Baxter that he needs to be a "mensch", what is a mensch?  It's a human being.  It's beautiful writing and the acting (by Jack Kruschen) was superb. 

I'm thinking today about various things and I've realized that what he meant was to act like a person that you would be proud to know.  That little rule of thumb applies to work and your personal life.  If the people you work with are scum do you really want to work with them?  If you're scummy at home do you think you'll really act any differently at work? 

Maybe if the entire world followed the rules according to Dr. Dreyfuss then maybe, just maybe we would have less problems in this world.