Practicing careful consumption and social restraint

Most of us crave always having something to talk about with others.

Yet in an age of constant information streams and countless social outlets, restraint is rare and silence even scarcer.

Whether it’s chatting about sports, politics or weather forecasts, most of us are perpetually seeking out quick conversations with friends, neighbors or colleagues about the things that excite us at any particular moment.

But an inherent conflict exists within this reality. The truth is that there are very few things that most people know enough about to capably speak on. We tend to think we know more about basketball than the coaches and players on the court or more about the judicial system than the judges and lawyers working the cases. We tend to be quick to scrutinize the decisions of leadership without ever having led or to pan a business without ever having been responsible for making payroll.

Because of this, we find ourselves engulfed in a cyclone of misinformation where so much of what we hear is half-baked opinions and haphazard re-tellings.

So it’s as essential as ever to take with a grain of salt what we hear through the grapevine, even when coming from people we know and love. And even more essential to do our part to set an example to all those we come in contact with of careful consumption and social restraint.

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