You know it's kind of ironic: I was an English teacher for years (it is still my favorite thing to do) and as often as I talked about the importance of communication, emphasized how to do well with communication, rehearsed and worked and focused on the power of good communication, I am still learning myself how important clear, effective, and honest communication is. I made a communication mistake today with a good person, one whom I respect very much.
It can be easy in this day and age to post a tweet, make a comment on Facebook, drop a note on Foursquare, and not stop to think that there is a live human being who might be affected on the receiving end of that message. And in our modern society, these exchanges can be VERY public. Dirty laundry for all to see.
Interestingly, it was communication itself that fixed it. I called the gentleman, we talked it through with good ol' fashioned honesty, and resolved our differences.
I am again reminded that, through the looking glass of hundreds or thousands of cell phones and computer screens, there are individual persons reading our comments with sincerity. We must be as responsible with our digital words as we are with those in person. Probably even more so.
