I am writing this because I have a friend who gave me the idea. He has very different views on politics and religion and I could care less. The challenge is that it is hard to talk to him about life and anything else. He is a good person, but he is trying to move me into his way of thinking because it would make him feel better. The odd part is that he doesn’t even know my positions on politics and religion. I know better than to tell him. Funny, huh? I will be 76 in just 11 days, God willing, and have learned a few things. I graduated 2nd to last from both the “School-Of-Hard-Knocks” and “Know-It-All-University.” I found out recently that the older I get, the less I know for sure! One thing I have deduced from my life experiences is that political and religious conversation with strangers is a NO-NO! Writing about them is a NO-NO also, unless you are a writer on those subjects. When I write and in all my entrepreneurial ventures in the past I have avoided these two subjects. You might want to ask me, “Why is that?” The answer is in two parts…
1. We have three prominent political parties in the USA and all three want to be our choice to run it.
As a business person or a writer of True Short Stories, exposing your personal political feelings will affect your dealing with your clients and/or readership. 40% of America is Democrat all the time. 40% of America is Republican all the time. 20% of America is Libertarian. Some vote some don’t. Some flip from time to time depending on emotion and afterthoughts. Using my limited logical thinking, if you let strangers know what you are for or against you run the risk of losing a client or a reader. Let’s assume you turn Democrat this year, you will alienate the Republican devout. If you switch to Republican, you run the risk of alienating the Democrat devout. If you switch to Libertarian you are in a heap of trouble there, also. If you say, “I don’t discuss religion or politics you probably lose some, also. If you can’t win, why say anything at all? I am probably losing readership just by writing this article! How fair is that? My strategy is to do everything I can to “change the subject” if it comes up! You can also walk away!
*** You never get in trouble for something you don’t say!
–Spoken first by Norm Chadwick
2. We have hundreds of brands of religions in America.
Your belief is just a small percentage of all the religions on earth. In my 75+ years on earth, I have met a lot of people. All you have to do to verify that is to read my resume list on the Home Page of my blog. In all those years, I have never met or even heard of one person who changed from one religion to another. That tells me that exposing your beliefs will not entice people to change their beliefs about how God works. In business and in writing of books, talking about religion to strangers is a NO-NO for the same reasons above in the politics section. It is probably even more relevant than politics because of the emotions involved. You never get in trouble for what you don’t say.
Norm Chadwick, the person I got that quote from, was someone that I knew. He was at one time an Officer in my computer repair company, called Universal Computer Group Corporation. He told me that quote after my big mouth got me in trouble. I was talking on the phone to a young receptionist from an electronics supplier. I didn’t know her, but I had ordered thousands of parts and equipment from her over the years. She said I sounded upset and asked me, “Roy Lee, what’s wrong?” I had just talked to a fellow who owed my company $2,000 and he gave me the run-around, so I told her what a deadbeat he was and even told her his name and the name of his company. The next Monday, we were the recipient of a summons to appear in Civil Court. The deadbeat was suing my business for defamation of character! It turns out that the young empathetic receptionist was actually the daughter of the deadbeat. The sad part was that the electronic parts company recorded all phone calls as a security policy. We settled the lawsuit by letting him out of the $2,000 he owed and we ended up paying our attorney over $2,000 to negotiate the deal. As Norm Chadwick left the Court Room, he told me, “Roy Lee, you never get in trouble for what you don’t say!” When it comes to business, politics, and religion, I never forgot that statement! Lesson learned, ‘nuff said! I suggest you don’t forget that lesson, also. Thanks to you, Norm Chadwick, for some great advice! It inspired me to swallow my tongue once in a while. i Guess this True Short Story is also educational.
I Am Sooo Blessed
Roy Lee Barrett
Click to go to the next True Story,
“You Cannot Find Your Happiness in Other People“
Roy Lee Unchained 