09.20.08
Your Vote Counts
I got an e-newsletter this week. This newsletter usually has a few helpful hints. Probably nothing that I need to risk getting carpal tunnel for, but I sometimes read it.
In this issue, there was a different tone. Not helpful. Not friendly. It wasn’t a business-tips issue. It was an emotion-filled invective citing why we should vote for this person’s candidate. And she announced she would be registering voters. I wonder for whom…
As emotional as that author was in her tone, so was my reaction to it. Is “unsubscribe” an emotion? It was that day.
Made me think about how we come across to people when we are so focused on our own viewpoint that we don’t consider how our message will be received. In a split couple of seconds of reading the newsletter, that author’s credibility was dashed against the rocks. Her likeability and professionalism plummeted. In my opinion.
But isn’t the reader, the listener, the audience’s opinion what we should be guaging when we write and speak?
It’s great that people are passionate about their candidates. But only if they are speaking to someone who is only mildly lukewarm about their own candidates. Otherwise you are in danger of appearing close-minded and unreasonable.
In addition, ignoring the arena in favor of voicing your opinion shows that you are not in control of your emotions. That you have a compulsive need to promote your own view. You need to win and conquer others to your own viewpoint.
For some reason, this whole scenario reminded me of “The Call of the Wild”. When the main character cuts open his dog so he won’t freeze his own hands. Then later he realizes that he only needed to put his hands against the dog. (I remember that from the book. I’m not sure if it was in the film version. Maybe I slept through that. I’m not really a dog person.)
There are ways and places that are better than others. We need to calm down, step back, get perspective, and then act: write, speak, convince, lead, etc.
By the way, having a sense of humor really helps in this type of situation. Practice seeing things in a humorous way, and you can’t NOT see things from a different perspective.
What do you think of that e-newsletter? Who are you voting for? Or shouldn’t I ask?
