Saturday, February 23, 2008

Sometimes...

... a blank page serves as a weeks-long selah. The previous entry was a snarky diatribe on hypocrisy, moral authority and atonement.

I have come to the conclusion that 2 + 2 = 4, even when the Devil tells you. Wisdom can be gleaned from strange places and one would do well to remember that.

I must, however, comment on something that simply confused me. The notion that a person can somehow spontaneously gain some requisite measure of self-confidence in order to graciously accept another's criticisms is lazy at best and foolhardy at worst. Critics need to realize that they don't tend to focus on the process of successfully delivering their message so much as they simply wish to demonstrate their superior knowledge to others.

Expertise and wisdom are qualities best recognized, not demonstrated to serve a purpose.

Tact.

If I were to tattoo a word on the collective forehead of this generation, it would be TACT. All too often do we, as a group, fail to recognize or accept that the methods we take in communicating have an effect on the message itself. How many relationships have been soured because someone couldn't be bothered to take their audience into account.

This week, my motto will be "Tact, Honesty and Lucidity."

Write to you soon,

- John.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

1 comment:

Unknown said...

"Critics need to realize that they don't tend to focus on the process of successfully delivering their message so much as they simply wish to demonstrate their superior knowledge to others."


You know, this seems all too true. Somehow, we think that the 'obvious' truth of a critique is all that's required, and people should change accordingly. I'm not sure I have anything new or insightful to add, but this simply rang true. The process of understanding and fostering change goes much deeper than that.