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The New and Improved Ten Commandments -- Writer's Poke #291

Who pays any attention to the original Ten Commandments? I submit that they've outlived their usefulness.

Of the 10, eight are expressed as things not to do, such as "Thou shalt not walk on the grass" (Commandment #6).

Only two are expressed positively, such as Commandment #2 ("Honor the Chicago Cubs and Boston Celtics.")

But seriously, why all the negatively? Do people really need to be told what not to do? And didn't God take an undergraduate Psychology class? He should know that when He commands, "You shall not kill," that killing becomes exactly what I want to do. Although the thought of killing hadn't been on my mind, now that it's there, it's all I can think about. Now that I think about it, I don't know how I've managed to go without killing for the past 38 years...

The time has come for new commandments. Let's write them in positive language. An example might be something like this: "Contribute to the well-being of others" or "Think about the long-term consequences before you act." I mean, are those any worse than the original ten? I don't think so. In fact, I think we can come up with ten that are a lot better, and a lot more meaningful.

Write a new commandment for the New and Improved Ten Commandments.

"Could I come near your beauty with my nails, I'd set my ten commandments in your face." -- William Shakespeare

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