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Reflection

When I was much younger I read Garry Wills' Lead Time, a collection of articles he had written organized around the view he had of his growth as a journalist. One of the things that he touched on was the benefit of not commenting instantly but rather waiting long enough to be able to make more sense of what you are describing.

More recently the NPR show/podcast On the Media has been putting out some good, succinct handbooks to help listeners to be good consumers of news.  One of the ones that I have shared with my students from time to time is the Breaking News Consumers Handbook. The first guideline:  In the immediate aftermath, news outlets will get it wrong.

There have been other influences on me over the years, encouraging me not to invest emotion and not to encourage others to invest emotion in what may be a premature interpretation of what is going on.

This applies in many ways to my blogging. At any given point in time there are a number of things going on in my life. It is the joy of having a large network of loved ones, family and friends, that at the moment of blogging at least two or three of them are on my mind in a way that commits thought and energy.  I rarely blog about situations in real-time.  If I did, I would probably err, and worse, lead anyone charitable enough to read my writings into error. I choose not to do that intentionally and hope that I do not do so unintentionally.

Wisdom is not the same as unreflective experience; wisdom lies in having experiences and reflecting and challenging oneself with those experiences.

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