What I Believe
November 23, 1999
6:24 a.m.
When I am at work, I believe people always want to do a good job. Lisa laughs at me when I say that. But I think it's true. I find that going into a problem with that basis in mind makes it easier to get to the root of the problem--which, being a middle manager, is usually me. When someone doesn't want to do a good job, the problem still lies in me. Either I picked a person who didn't fit the role, or I didn't do something along the way to make his or her job exciting enough to them to make them want to succeed. I believe that people are good at heart. I believe that no one is trying to hurt anyone else, but that it happens occasionally. I believe, well, I believe in lots of stuff that makes peoples' eyes roll over white. I believe these things because it leads to a certain healthy attitude within my soul. But make no mistake, my belief is really a starting point, more of a going in assumption than anything else. It's basically the way I provide people the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure I'm butchering it, but Abraham Lincoln once said something like, "Never attribute to malice what ignroance will do." This belief system is my way of trying to do that. And I believe it of myself, too. I believe that I do my best at all times. I believe that I do not intend to harm others. But the bottom line is that I don't do either of these things very well. There are a lot of times where I don't do my best, and there are times where I choose a course that I know might well hurt people. Just a few days ago, I singled out a NAW member and basically told her she was wrong. Yes, I was fairly gentle about it--more gentle than perhaps someone else might have been. But I'm sure it bothered her. A good writer moves people by what he writes. A good friend thinks about what he writes before he writes it. Sometimes, that friend still writes it--or says it. But a good friend with a sensible view of reality can see what he's done, see the harm he's done, and can at least own up to his errors. I knew Linda read my page. I knew what I was going to write might bother Linda when I wrote it, yet still I did. And I never even made a point to smooth things over with her before or after. I was wrong to do that. I apologize, Linda.   Have a good one. Many Thanks to Shannon Wendt for her award   What's all that about, Ron? Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
|
"When two families share a single water source, ensuring it is not polluted benefits both." - "When we neglect others' well-being and ignore the universal dimension of our actions, it is inevitable that we will come to see our interests as separate from theirs." - "When we put too much emphasis on superficial differences, and on account of them make even small, rigid discriminations, we cannot avoid bringing about additional suffering both for ourselves and others. This makes no sense."  Ethics for the New Millennnium |
BACK TO 
|