I'll Do What Jefferson Said!

I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said, "If you do a thing, not matter if any other person will see or know of it, do it as if the whole world will know."

There are no small things that we do, especially when it involves other people. We might do small things internally, just things that affect us personally. I don't think that if I wear Old Spice, instead of Polo, that too many people are going to be affected, or care.

At the same time, anything I say about another person TO another person may affect the entire remainder of my life, even though it is something which may seem mundane or unimportant to me. If I keep in mind what Mr. Jefferson said, then I would probably be much better off.

The world we live in is a complex, a VERY complex set of interconnected relationships between us, and the people we come in contact with AND the people THEY come in contact with. Have you ever been out in a strange place, and met someone who knew some of the same people that you knew? We all have. I was all the way in Athens, Greece and ran into some people from Georgia who knew people back home that I knew. Imagine that! Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to be careful what we say and do about anyone at anytime. Other people who are NOT there when we are having a conversation won't know if we are using a humorous tone instead of a sarcastic one will they? And, that can make a difference.

It's sort of like emails nowadays. When you get an email from someone, sometimes it's hard to tell if its "serious" or if they are kidding. You surely can't tell too much about how a person "says" something through an email. When you tell something to another person, and THEY carry what you said to someone else, who in turn takes it to the person who you were talking about, by then the "tone" of what you said can be vastly different. For one thing, there are a lot of "snakes" out there who love to get tidbits of any kind to carry to anyone and make themselves look better or feel more important. Politics you know.

Then there are the ones who innocently drop a few phrases of a conversation you may have had with them that YOU considered private and confidential. I am sorry to tell you this, but there is NO such thing. Just one or two "key" words innocently dropped is enough to cause a heap of trouble.

No, I am indeed for doing what Mr. Jefferson said in the future. If it's not something that I wouldn't mind seeing on the cover of Time magazine, I am NOT going to say or do it.
How 'bout you?