MYOB!

One thing that's fascinating on an interpersonal and societal level is meddling. We all do it, whether consciously or unconsciously. Thrusting ourselves into "other people's business" can bring helpful or disastrous results. Who even gets to define what qualifies as "other people's business"? Usually, the definition is clarified after it's too late and the damage is done or the successful outcomes have prevailed.

Most often, meddling is not seen as anything negative by the party participating in the meddling. The recipients often do not agree and see it as unwanted. What actually constitutes not minding your own business? Obviously, meddling is completely contextual. It depends on the people involved, personal opinions of propriety, subjective morals, and the specific circumstances of the situation before one can comfortably (and sometimes uncomfortably) make the call about whether to get involved or not.

When parents try to influence your decisions about what vendors to use at your wedding, or what colors schemes match best, is that meddling or just giving a strong opinion? Does it make a difference if they're helping to pay for the wedding or not? If you know painful information about a loved one's romantic relationship that they're not aware of, should you tell them or let them remain oblivious? If you hear strangers carrying on a conversation about where to eat in your neighborhood and they seem unsure, is it acceptable to enter their conversation and mention a few places to them? What I love about these examples (and a host more) is that they are so variable depending on your personality and your personal code of ethics. For example, parents trying to influence my decisions about my own wedding would be meddling if they are really trying to exert their will and won't take no for an answer (luckily for me this is not a real-life example). Recommending a restaurant to a few strangers after apologizing for overhearing their conversation would, in general, be fine for me. And the second case would completely depend on who the loved one is, what the painful information consists of, and what the immediate and long-term consequences would be to him or her, me, and our relationship upon telling that person.

Those are my thoughts, but I guarantee I could find a small army of people who would disagree with me, and that's just fine. What probably makes the most sense is to try and have as much tact and respect for people and their personal decisions as possible--not that I'm saying that's easy if you fundamentally don't agree with what they're doing. However, with that "philosophy" in mind, it will be hard to overstep boundaries or be accused of sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.