The Wifely Pollyanna says.....

Hayley Mills as Pollyanna - 1960

  1. You don’t jump to conclusions unless there is a pre-existing condition that provides a basis for the leap. These things just don’t fall outta the sky. You don’t rush to judgment unless there’s enough circumstantial evidence for large numbers of people to buy into that judgment. It doesn’t make it right, but it should make you take a harder look as to why people automatically think in that direction. 

2.     A smoking gun is pretty good piece of circumstantial evidence. Obviously the gun has been recently fired. Almost as obvious is the perception that the hand holding the gun owns the finger that pulled the trigger. But a perception is not a fact, and just because the hand holding the gun happens to be yours, that you are the shooter is not a foregone conclusion. There is always that possibility, albeit slim, that you are not the shooter. In other words, even if the smoke’s curling right up from the barrel, do your homework. What you think you see isn't necessarily real.

3.     There will always be mentally ill people who do violent things. The Tucson shooter was, according to any number of sources, mentally ill, and seems not to be following any particular political action plan. He joins the ranks of guys like John Hinkley and Mark David Chapman who were just plain loony.  We have to recognize that lunatics exist and will always exist. We have to take the lunacy factor into account and understand that really nutty things…like shooting the President to impress Jodie Foster or shooting up a supermarket…happen no matter what precautions we take.

4.     You don’t use terms you don’t understand. If you are unfamiliar with a phrase that appears in a speech someone hands you, look it up. Make sure that the writer’s understanding matches your understanding and that both match the accepted definition. Phrases like “blood libel” or “pound of flesh” may be generally misused, but if you’re planning on using one in a major speech, get it right.  Ms Palin, you and your staff may think no one notices but we do and this makes you look ignorant, if not downright stupid. 

5.     If one wants to pursue a racist agenda, please find another country in which to do it. If one can’t get past the fact that the President of the United States happens to be half-black, let me remind you he is also half-white. If this is an issue for you, you need to live someplace else. The President of the United States could be purple with pink polka-dots. No one with half a functioning brain should care what color he…or she is. What we should care about is what comes out of his…or her mouth. 

© 2011, Steven G. Artley, ARTLEY CARTOONS

  6. By the way, the person who is elected President of the United States IS the president. It doesn’t matter if you voted for him...or her... or not. He…or she won. He…or she IS the President, and should be respected as such. This means that when the country faces a crises and the President speaks eloquently, you are permitted to acknowledge that he …or she did a good job. You get to say “I may not agree with your politics, but that was a good speech.” There are moments when the country needs kindness and congeniality; during a crisis, it’s okay to suspend politics as usual for the sake of national healing.    

7.  And lastly, if you are recognized as a leader, whether it's a team leader, a class leader, a political leader, or even a dog leader, do everyone a favor and lead by example. If people are looking to you for clues, give them clues you'd want your mother and grandmother to hear about.  Measure you words, soothe the angry, calm the emotional, and above all, be a square shooter. No spin, no hyperbole, no lies. Just the facts; just give us the facts. We can take it from there.

Wifely Person Tip o' the Week

If you were born in Hawaii after August 21st, 1959,
you were born in the 50th State of the Union.