Emotions and Commonsense

by Elizabeth

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, how often do we hear that phrase and there is truth in it. Situations have arisen where someone has seen or heard something which they have perceived is wrong. Instead of dealing with the matter they have given way to various emotions instead of hesitating and failing to remain cool, calm and collected and ended up by upsetting people and making things a lot worse, whereas commonsense had it prevailed would not have done lasting harm

An incident came up where a person on their own bat saw a display put up by an organization on behalf of the charity they belonged to and wanted it pulled down without consulting their committee before making a complaint. As a result they offended the person who had put up the display and did not do their own charity any favours. The sensible thing would have been for them to get back to the people who had requested the display put up and made their concerns to them rather than just demand on their own to have it pulled down. The result is going to be that this is going to cost the charity some support that it needed.

It is so easy to confront someone and accuse them of an action without giving them a chance to explain. I faced some embarrassment and upset some years ago when a woman accused me of selling some plants from another garden on behalf of the charity I belonged to. The garden belonged to a woman who had raised plants for charity, she had died and the family got in touch with me and told me I could sell off the rest. This I did but unfortunately they had not got in touch with her and told her. I was out on a garden trip and this confrontation spoilt the day for me. I said to her that we needed the money for the charity and also that the family had been the ones to approach me, No way would I have ever trespassed on someone’s place without permission.

Family bitterness has come about when people have spoken out unwisely without stopping to find out what was going on. Quite innocent incidents have been magnified into something quite major which has gone on to have an impact for years to come.

Foolish actions carried out on the spur of the moment without due consultation and thought may lose the support and help of important people. It only takes stupidity to antagonize someone in the community to lose a charity or other organization help and money that they could have done with.