Monday; August 28

Have you ever heard someone say something completely out of character for them? While this might have been them dropping a word that you never thought you’d hear them say the focus for this thought is when someone makes a statement that is either false or in opposition to what you expected from them. When we hear this type of message, the most natural response is to be shocked at what they said – and too often the next response is to go around and tell other people what that person said. We can get a lot of mileage out of, “You’ll never believe what Charlie said …”. While it might be tempting to spread the message, our first step should be to go to the person making the statement and asking them if what you heard was their intent. Sure, there are times when people will surprise us with a new belief, but all too often what we’ll find is summed up in a failure to communicate. Maybe it was a misspoken word on their part of even a mistake in hearing or processing their original message on ours. When this happens, we owe them the courtesy of checking their message before reporting it.

Let’s give people the benefit of the doubt. No, we shouldn’t ignore false information, but when we are willing to gather some follow-up information based on facts, we might be able to avoid embarrassment – both theirs and ours!

Think About It!

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