Last week President Obama was ready to give someone a beating. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to simply sit down with the CEO of BP and work together on a solution?
It seems that all the snarky comments from talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and brash attacks from Michael Moore documentaries have conditioned us to attack first. It’s time we remembered that old commandment about loving each other.
Here are ten rules for relationships to get us back on track…and maybe they would even help clean up the mess on the gulf more quickly:
1. If you have a problem with me, come to me privately.
2. If I have a problem with you, I’ll come to you privately.
3. If someone has a problem with me and comes to you, send them to me.
4. If someone consistently talks to you about me but will not come to me, say to the person, “Let’s go see him/her together.”
5. Because it is easy to misinterpret intentions, be careful how you interpret me. On matters that are unclear, do not feel pressure to guess about my thoughts, feelings, actions, or intentions. Instead, come to me and ask me to clarify.
6. If it’s confidential, don’t tell. If you or anyone else comes to me in confidence, I won’t tell.
7. I do not manipulate. I will not be manipulated. Do not let others manipulate you. Do not let others try to manipulate me through you.
8. When you have a question or are in doubt about something, come to me and ask to talk with me about it. If I can answer you without misrepresenting something or breaking a confidence, I will.
9. Let’s keep the “air” between us clear. If I sense that there is distance, hurt, misunderstanding, etc. between us (regardless of who is to blame), I’ll come to you to talk about it. I expect the same from you.
10. Forbearance and forgiveness are essential for our relationship.
The 10 Rules are from ACCFS
Amen. That list should make it to our fridge. =)
I think the oil spill makes a nice soap box don’t you? Green is looking pretty good in light of goopy oil on the beaches.
Ann,
This is good fridge content!
Ed