Two types of people

Raising Children or Being a Leader - an allegory from Aaron Sorkin

From The West Wing - December 13, 2000

 This guy is walking down the street when he falls in a hole.   The walls are so steep he can't get out.

A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, "hey you, can you help me out?"  The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole, and moves on.

A preacher comes along and the guys shouts out, "hey padre, I am down in this hole.  Can you help me out?"  The preacher says a prayer and then moves on.

Then a friend comes along and the guy shouts out, "hey Steve, can you help me out?" So the friend jumps down into the hole.  Our guy says, "are you stupid, now we are both down here."  and the friend says, "yeah I know, but I have been down here before and I know the way out."

On gossip

 Socrates, one of the greatest Greek philosophers, who lived from 469 – 399 BC, shunned gossip. It is said that one day he came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?”

“Wait a moment,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

“Triple filter?” his friend asked.

“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my student let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”

“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?”

“No, on the contrary… “

“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you’re not certain it’s true?” The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued. “You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter – the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really,” the man admitted.

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?”

The man who had tried to spread gossip to the great thinker was defeated and ashamed.

Smart Writing

 A blog post on writing

https://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/06/the_day_you_bec.html