Assume the Best
This is the concept that I came up with after a blog post and conversation here from May 2007. I humbly request that you consider operating by this concept while reading and/or commenting here at The Shadows of Love.
Ever heard that saying, “You know what happens when you assume, don’t you? You make an ASS out of U and ME.” That saying implies that one shouldn’t go about making assumptions. Well, I came to a realization that everyone already operates under a current set of assumptions, as well as creating new assumptions all the time.
This is especially dangerous in the world of blogs.
Do to the fact that 90% of communication is non-verbal, you only get to experience 10% of communication here, in print. You cannot discern my motive, tone, attitude, or body language as I sit and type any given post. Since the nature of most of my posts are of touchy and sometimes controversial topics of a spiritual nature, this can lead to horrid misunderstandings.
So here’s the point:
Whatever you read here at the Shadows of Love, let’s try to assume that it was written with the best and most LOVING of intentions. Then, if you would like to make sure that such an assumption is correct, feel free to leave a comment, IM/GoogleChat, or email me to clarify.
I agree to do the same with you in all comments.
Why will we hopefully choose to operate in a such a way? Because I believe it is MUCH easier to work from this perspective than to assume that a given post or comment was written with malcontent, hence engaging in the process of convincing one another that it was surely not.
The truth of the matter:
I know it might be hard to believe, but sometimes I do write a post in anger or as a cynical ass hole. BUT, if we work backwards from the assumption that I wasn’t being a cynical ass hole, then it will be easier for me to see that I was, in fact, being the aforementioned ass hole. Do you see? The same is true for you in the comments.
Thanks for making an effort to “play by the rules” (though it’s not really a rule, more of a request really). What do you think of this concept?
