Life lessons

We all witness ugly behavior during our time on earth. Ugly behavior can be very useful in guiding us to become the people we want to be.  I am exorcising some disappointment I am feeling in certain people I usually respect, so bear with me. I’ll resume regular posts shortly.

Things I’ve learned from watching others (and sometimes realizing I am guilty of the same things):

•    Stick to the point in disagreements. Derailing and resorting to insults not only makes you look bad, it also makes you look wrong.
•    If you are a leader, you must lead by example. Knowledge is nice, but embodying the wisdom of your knowledge speaks volumes.
•    Be wary of those who spend too much time criticizing others. They may claim they are trying to clarify and help, but there is an ulterior motive. They may not admit it or even be consciously aware of it.
•    Immediately siding with your friends without knowing all the facts is often a mistake. Your friends are people, and fallible like everyone else. While you can privately lend a sympathetic ear, it’s better not to get involved until you have more facts.
•    Choose your battles, and know when to back down. No one is always right, and some people have more knowledge than you. This is especially true when  it pertains to knowledge gained from life experience.
•    Constant foul language makes you look crude and causes people to miss your message and not take you seriously.
•    There is almost always more than one way to do something. It may not be your way. That doesn’t make it wrong.
•    Hypocrisy is one of the easiest traps to tumble into. Be wary of it.