Saturday, June 9, 2012

But....

There is an Italian saying which advises us to speak nothing but good of the dead. The same should be said of the living. If we cannot say something good about people, we should say nothing at all.

It is easy to do harm to another person's good name under the guise of virtue. All we have to do is to preface our slander with remarks such as:

  • "I'm no saint myself, but…"
  • "She is really a wonderful person, but…"
  • "Don't tell anyone, but…"

You know my general rule about the word, "but": When you hear it, disregard what was said previously. Instead, when people slander others in our presence, we should object. After all, if they will slander others, they will probably slander us as well.

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