During my growing-up years I often heard a now-seldom-used phrase for staying out of trouble: Leave well enough alone. There was great awareness in that statement. It was a calm warning to stay out of what didn’t concern me. I don’t hear this anymore, perhaps because the language is a bit old timey for the 21st Century, but perhaps also because with our technological capacities to intrude in anything and everything, we want to have our noses in all things. We want to know what our relatives are doing, our neighbors are doing. We want to hear bedroom gossip around the world whenever we can get it, which causes me to wonder: Are we not over the top in our abilities to create disturbance just about everywhere? Since we can now have opinions about everything, does everyone need to hear them?
Live and Let Live...
Whatever happened to live and let live? I know we are challenged by what to do about perceived injustices throughout the world…and so we should be. I subscribe to the Gates Foundation mandate: Everyone deserves the chance to live a healthy, productive life. But does it have to be done according to our own, ethnocentric lights? The United States, with all its money and power, is not universally welcomed by other cultures when it comes tramping into their worlds with its big ideas. There really is wisdom in knowing when to leave well enough alone.
Clarity and Courage...
In our lives we need the clarity and courage to know when to act, when to make a hard decision knowing that the outcome may be well out of our control. At the same time it is also important to know when not to meddle, when wisdoms and actions other than our own are in play and should not be trifled with.
Solomon's Legendary Wisdom...
When to act and when to leave well enough alone…Sometimes a dose of Solomon’s legendary wisdom would be such a help!
More Essays About Everything is now available on Amazon
http://tinyurl.com/kxsb47cYou might also enjoy "On Character Building"
