Too many people like to comment on situations before they have the facts. This is disastrous to all parties involved. Commenting on situations without the facts, and doing so vigorously, has the potential to make whatever that situation is worse.

The more I hear people talk, the more I believe that 99.9% of what we hear is usually rumor, and that just leaves 0.01% to be the truth. You’ve probably heard of the experiment where you tell one person something and let them tell someone else who tells someone else who tells someone else, and this goes on until 20-30 people have been told. The last person tells the first person, and lo and behold, what the last person says is not what the first person said. The point is simple. The more mouths a story travels through, the more changes will take place. This happens all the time. Part of the problem is that people just don’t listen to what is said. The other part of the problem is that if they do listen, they only hear the parts they want to hear. Next thing you know, 20 to 30 people later, a whole new version of the “truth” has been created.

The problem with basing your reactions on information you don’t get straight from the source results in creating negative situations. People easily become angry to start with, so give them a situation based on a rumor that is nowhere near the truth, and they react angrily. They make statements based on the inaccuracies, and the next thing you know, people are spreading that statement around like it is a fact. And that’s where the major problem comes in. Rumors are presented as facts and everybody gets in a tizzy and things just escalate from there.

The solution is simple. Take 99.9% of what you hear with a grain of salt. Before you add something to the dialogue, get the facts, and get them from somebody who actually has the authority to give them. And after you get the facts, before you add something to the dialogue, find a respectful way to do it. Everybody deserves your respect, and if you can’t be part of a conversation and be respectful while doing it, then refrain from joining the conversation. Everybody has an opinion, and that’s their right. Respect their right to believe something different than you believe and their right to express it. If we could just get the facts straight before we jump into a situation and if we could be respectful when we jump in, wouldn’t the world be a much better place? Remember, you get out of something what you put in to it. If you’re feeding negativity into a situation where you don’t have all the facts, you’re just going to be left in one big negative mess. I’m pretty sure that’s not where anybody wants to be.