Thoughtfulness: Slow Down. Pause. Breathe. Think. Repeat.

Thoughtful (adjective) 1. given to or made with heedful anticipation of the needs and happiness of others   2. decided on as a result of careful thought 

--Merriam-Webster

It's called the twenty four hour rule, and in 2019 it feels quaint, even archaic, to consider heeding its simple wisdom.

If you receive an email or phone call, any kind of electronic or face to face message, and are not quite sure just how to respond....If a person confronts or angers you in word or speech or writing, makes you feel defensive, or hurt or attacked even, and in that moment you so want to raise your voice or make a sharp judgment or lash out with some witty or cutting repartee....

Don't do it.  Don't respond.  Don't reply. Instead give it a full day. Let the information sit, and think about it, really think on it, even pray on it, and only after twenty four hours have passed, then you can react.

I told you this advice is old fashioned: to be thoughtful and careful and even deliberately slow in our communication and human interactions. To take the time needed to be wise and care-filled in how we interact with the folks we work with and live with and love in community. Family. Neighbors. Fellow citizens. The guy in the next cubicle over. 

Don't just do something! Sit there.

Which is practically impossible given all the technological ways we can now talk to each other, yell at each other, insult each other, offer an unsolicited or uninformed opinion and always, ALWAYS, do so right away. RIGHT NOW! What came first? The impulse to talk back or the technology to ensure we can do it in less than the blink of an eye? Doesn't really matter anymore, for in our culture and world we have slipped down the rabbit hole of blazing fast communication and there's no looking back. It's all instantaneous now. Millions of texts and emails and tweets, and so the speed at which we relate is faster than we can control.  Faster than we can tame the tongue, the pen, the keyboard. This has even bled over into our face to face discussions. Its hard not to notice how short and quick and even surly so many of our public conversations have become.

I think the place this reality has taken the worst toll is in our civic conversations, the ways in which we talk to each other as fellow citizens and the ways in which the folks we elect to lead us, speak to us and each other. From the Oval Office on down, public policy is now so often created on the fly, announced from on high, and almost always unfiltered, unedited, and unbelievable at times. Angry at an opponent? Rip them to shreds in a tweet.  Don't have the guts to have an actual conversation, a give and take face to face in trying to come up with the best solution for all? Tweet out your opinions and then watch the sparks fly.  You can read it all on Twitter, the social media platform that embodies more than any other, our communal descent into thoughtlessness. Into impulsive communication. Into carelessness and laziness when it comes to governing and being governed.  Into the chaos that is modern political life.

So here's a simple hope, a fervent prayer even. Can we all just slow down?  Can we each try and take a breathe and take a moment and take the time to actually think about what we are about to say or write and how it will affect the person we are talking to? Can we be mature and caring enough to know just when to speak and when to be quiet, when to react and when to hold that thought? Can we just take a sacred God given moment and pause?  Better yet, stop.

It will make for a better life. It will make for a better nation and world. And if you have a strong opinion about what I've just written please let me know. Just remember to think about it for a day or so, before sharing.  Thanks for your thoughtfulness.