Field Guide to People

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SO helpful, 

I wish I had a field guide to people. You know the kind; the ones with pictures and descriptions and habitat and what to watch for and when to watch for them. It would be so helpful.

I would know how to respond, or when to avoid (entry on page 24: particularly poisonous, avoid at all costs, found in the -----), or when to engage and how to engage (entry on page 435: approach carefully, only after dinner but not before 6:00 AM ever.), or this is the person you have been looking for all your life, (entry on page 365: this is the one. look no further, meets all qualifications for a good partner.) or any other helpful reference points one might need as they proceed through life.

I don't have a field guide and often my instincts are off.  Hard to believe, I know.While we live in a scientific world, it seldom is cut and dried when we are dealing with other homo sapiens. So probably, the guide,

Not mandatory, but helpful in advance
 spotting  of approaching specimen 

while helpful, would truly only be a guide. Sigh.

I have often thought children should come with an owner's manual, I am sure others have thought this too. When the child does "x" do "y". Though I do suppose, having a field guide or manual for others, would take the "opportunities for growth" out of life, which we are all the richer for (though sometimes I do feel a little bankrupt from these opportunities...).

Anyway, there you have it. We go through life gathering up information, seldom as useful as the very basic one we are given from birth: Love each other.

(though, I am not going to lie, sometimes this is easier done from a distance, see field guide entry on page 654.)