I am a middle child and we are typically peacemakers. So with no more qualification than that, I offer this advice on how to get along with those around you.

Don't sweat the little things. Just for once, let it die. Forgive and forget. Heck, forgive and take each other out for pizza. Don't go to sleep on your anger. Don't go to sleep unsure, even. Don't go to sleep without brushing your teeth, kissing your babies no matter how old. Greet each other with a smile. If that doesn't work greet each other with a rubber chicken.

Tell knock-knock jokes. Have fun, play games. Wrestle. Watch wrestling together. Remember, life is like baseball: You win some, you lose some, some get rained out, but you have to suit up for them all. Remember, life is like hockey: Fast, cold and if you're lucky you get through it with all your teeth. Play fair. It's not how you get knocked down that matters. It's how you get back up. Pain is forgotten, insult lingers. Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man.

Need one another. Crave one another. Don't pretend you can do it alone. Sing the song, "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world." Good fences do not make good neighbors. Good fences just cost a lot of money. Good fences just look like they don't have splinters. Only use your cell phone to tell people where to meet you. Face one another. Walk a mile in another man's shoes. Then try walking it without any at all.

Don't always take things the wrong way. It's better to be stupid and happy than smart and sad. The Barney Fifes of the world die smiling, the Kurt Cobains don't. A chip on the shoulder rarely matches anything from Old Navy or the Gap. Quit thinking people are always talking about you; to them, you're not that important. Remember, God is always caring about you: to Him, you are. Stop being paranoid 'cause, no matter what happens, in the end, even a stranger will give you a quarter.

Quit blaming others. President Clinton didn't ruin the ozone, Al Gore didn't invent traffic and Marilyn Manson can't possibly be focused enough to have caused glare, acid rain, tooth decay, foot odor, E. coli, and the talking furby. There's no one to be blamed for Jerry Springer. Remember, we are the people our parents warned us about. Take responsibility for making your life the great promise it can be. Then do the same for others. A man who carries a cat by the tail learns a lesson he can learn no other way.

Quit blaming yourself. If humans were perfect, there would be no people to need help; but no heroes either. Our faults makes us brothers and sisters. Our mistakes make us fathers and mothers. Our shortcomings bring us to God. Let yourself off the hook, give yourself a break. Remember, improvement only comes from the bottom. Nobody with four aces asks for a new deal.