The hazards of the written word. . . especially online.
Time and time again I’ve seen misunderstandings in e-mail that have resulted in hurt feelings and completely unnecessary drama because someone mistook what someone else wrote. Frankly I’m weary of it - but that’s not the point. :-)I think there are several reasons why this occurs and Nancy over at Flying Stars has posted a link to a news piece that gives insight into this frustratingly common phenomena. The news piece is enlightening but I have to wonder at the root cause in all this. It would seem to me that like so many other things, it’s pride.
Don’t get me wrong. We all long to be understood and that’s not necessarily a bad thing but why are we so quick to assume a lack of charity from something someone has written? Shouldn’t we instead, as Christians, be assuming a wealth of charity? Or at the very least giving the writer the benefit of the doubt and/or maybe recognizing that not everyone writes clearly and eloquently but that they still have the right to speak? Of course we should, but the problem is too often we don’t.
Mind you I am as guilty as anyone and I have seen and experienced the sad effects of this sort of thing. However I will tell you that in recent years I have tried to make it a habit to assume charity and frankly just let things roll off my back more. It’s takes some effort but it makes my e-mail life quite a lot less stressful. It’s an exercise in charity yes but for me it’s also a matter of self-preservation as I have neither the time or stamina to be offended so often.
Even so I know that I still have to be careful how I write things. That being said I trust any of you reading this will believe me when I say that these comments are not directed at any one person or situation in particular but simply something that has been on my mind and “in my face” as of late. Charlotte Mason called that the germination of an idea. . .but I digress.
What makes this worse is that the pride and prickliness of a few has fostered pride in the form of caution on the part of others. Time and again I hear people say that they don’t post on certain e-groups because they are afraid of how they will be taken. . . or rather mis-taken. Oh wait, maybe that’s humility. Or is it? I read a quote the other day from G.K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday that makes me think it actually IS pride. He writes: “. . .it is always the humble man who talks too much; the proud man watches himself too closely.” Ouch! Well, there’s some food for thought.
So now I have to publish this and risk someone taking it the wrong way. But then if I don’t publish it I’m a proud hypocrite. 
So here it is and I remain (hopefully) your humble sister in Christ.
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