Communicating With Charity

As I write this the 2012 Republican primary contest is moving along at a fast and furious pace. Front runner Mitt Romney is spending a ton of money to maintain his lead. In fact, the conventional wisdom is that he will eventually win his party's nomination. Despite that, months remain before the race is settled. Till then, many speeches and interviews will continue to be given by all the candidates. Each, of course, will be followed closely by the media and campaign followers. As physically and emotionally taxing as running for president must be, I continue to be amazed at how well these individuals hold up under what has to be incredible pressure.

Much of the pressure, as I see it, revolves around communication. Everything these individuals say and attempt to communicate is under relentless scrutiny. When they misspeak or say something that appears to not quite jive with what they have said before - sometimes even years before - a seeming floodgate of questions, criticisms and/or attacks on them open. Often, many of the misstatements happen on questions they have been asked countless times before. This is so unfair. Are there any of us who, after being asked the same question hundreds of times, wouldn't try to reword our response differently? After all, saying the same thing over and over is pretty boring.

In the world of communication, all of us are senders of messages. None of us do this perfectly. By the same token, all of us are receivers of messages. We do not do this perfectly either. Because we all share these traits, we need look at all the candidates, in the words of George Washington, "with greater charity." Unless a person is found to be telling a falsehood, then I urge everyone of us to cut the candidates some major slack. It's fine to go after their decisions or positions on various issues. And, yes, how and what they communicate is important, too. But they are also just like us when it comes to communicating with others. They do not always speak as well as they should or would like to. For us, then, communicating with charity in many ways improves our own communication skills