Letter to the editor: We shouldn't be too quick with our words

It worries me that people often do not say what is really on their minds. It worries me even more that some people cannot resist always saying what is on their mind. One of the things I appreciate about pithy bits of wisdom is that they tend to be wise. For example, one of the well-known sayings of Teddy Roosevelt was, "Walk softly and carry a big stick!" When it comes to living in a dangerous and nuclear-armed world, the big stick is a deterrent, but so is "walking softly." That people today in high places are not talking or "walking" softly about this issue is a problem. There are many illustrations similar to this, and we see them in talk of race, or talk about monetary policy, or the climate, or any of a host of hot topics. Everyone wants to weigh in with some kind of breathless importance. But cooler heads always devolve from more measured words. The ones that usually fly off the tops of our heads are better left to incubate a bit longer.

Years ago, while in college a very good friend, who tended to be less talkative, told me I talked too much. Naturally I did not like hearing that, but I took it to heart. His comment grew out of the fact that at our gatherings around the table, with our sophomoric attempts at solving the world's problems, I really did talk a lot. I learned that listening is important as well, and did change my habits to some degree, though if properly annoyed or provoked the tendency does reappear!

The Bible, especially in the Proverbs of Solomon, warns against being too quick on the trigger with words, and this is powerfully emphasized in the Letter of James. There is so much to know that we cannot know it all, yet for some odd reason some seem to think they do. I think it was Socrates whom Plato remembered as saying something like the more we know the more we know how little we know! At any rate, these times of artificial intelligence should cause us pause.

After all, a computer would not be able to tell its computer friend that "it talks too much!" At least we would not expect the insulted computer to care enough to reprogram itself.

Talking, while a trait I wish our little poodle, Fifi, could employ, is entirely overrated. There is way too much of it out there everywhere in all kinds of media, social and otherwise. Thinking, however, is always repaid much better. In fact, listening and then thinking will usually tend to a more commodious result. It surely is worth a try. And in a world where nuclear weapons really do exist it would be a measurable good if all people even remotely near the triggers could remember this. Every hour of every day.

JAMES R. CHANDLER JR.

Sumter