Is it the truth?

Words that must become extinct and the lesson of Herbert J. Taylor.

In the early 1930s Herbert J. Taylor set out to save the Club Aluminum Products distribution company from bankruptcy. He believed himself to be the only person who had hope. His recovery plan started with changing language and how people treated each other. He explained:

“If the people who worked for Club Aluminum were to think right, I knew they would do right. What we needed was a simple, easily remembered guide to right conduct – a sort of ethical yardstick- which all of us in the company could memorize and apply to what we thought, said and did.  I leaned over my desk, rested my head in my hands . . . Then I wrote down the twenty-four words that had come to me.”

Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Accuse me of rolling time back and old thinking, but check yourself.  Before you hit send check what you repeat whether it is words or depictions.

Are you running a hate campaign or are you being a stand for the success of US?  This goes both ways.  This is not about surviving the past 8 years or the next four.  It is about fundamentally changing the way we speak and eliminating Breitbart ALT Right and Extreme Left language which is becoming the new norm.  “Nazi “or “Fascist” are no longer shocking because they are overused.

We do not need vigilante bikers who form “walls of meat” and threaten violence.  Instead, we need well trained law enforcement to enforce all of our rights.  Well trained includes de-escalation training.  We need to help cops do their job without always being in fear which leads to shoot first behavior.

We do not need red hats glaring at pink ones or visa versa.

We need leaders that speak and act respectfully.

Everyone has their story of how the other side offended them.  How they bit their tongues on Facebook and then lashed out and eventually blocked connections.  You cannot control the behavior of others, but you can control yours.

My friend N observed that people are too quick to judge.  She was at the march in Denver and ran into an Egyptian student who was carrying a sign that was an enlarged version of Trumps famous tweet that the Chinese are responsible for climate change.  She said that protestors assumed that he was a Trump supporter and simply didn’t take a moment to absorb what was actually being said.  It turns out this student was doing an experiment to see of people would stop and talk or jump to quick anger.  N passed his test and was one of the few who did.

Flying out of Dulles, I decided to wear my pink hat at times to see how people would respond to me.    I wound up sitting in a group of red hats, and one of women in the group was the singer at the Freedom Ball in the red dress.  She was talking smack right behind me, and I was watching as people grew uncomfortable.  They were expecting me to escalate.  So I stood up and my chair scratched the floor (people gasped and waiting for the first punch) and gave her a hug and told her how proud I was of her performance and how amazing she sang.   She hugged me back and asked to have people take our picture.   So they did.

We skim.  Consider listening.  Break a barrier.

Before you post that meme, speak or write, or glare at someone in the street ask yourself.

Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?