“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
Paul White's nationally distributed syndicated column, “‘Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.’” is published in 22 publications across seven states. This includes the following newspapers and digital publications: Midland Daily News (MI), SFGate (CA), Seattle PI (WA), Connecticut Post (CT), Laredo Morning Times (TX), Huron Daily Tribune (MI), The Telegraph (IL), and more. In this week's article, Paul promotes being personally accountable for our thoughts, words we speak, and our actions—ultimately being open to others’ perspectives rather than immediately repelling their opinions—so something great can be built by this embrace.
The title of this article is a Ben Franklin quote. He meant it as a “throw down challenge” to the society of his time. If I want you to read this entire article, I best take heed of his advice. Why? Because I believe our current society has gotten to a point of intolerance that has become destructive. Don’t worry about where I’m going with this because I’m going to venture down into the negative valley and successfully climb to the positive mountaintop where you will clearly see what Ben’s quote can mean to your life.
If you examine the statement Ben made, it appears that he was frustrated at the time of utterance and thus, inspired to offer a solution. That solution being self-accountability. Clearly, he was tired of all the complaining, tired of people screaming what was wrong without offering even a hint of how to fix it, and tired of people attempting to leapfrog THEIR opinion over the opinion of anyone else. In case you haven’t noticed, currently in the United States, we are deep in a negative valley from a political standpoint. But where is the “Ladder of Consensus” that provides a direct path to the top of the positive mountaintop? Consensus…widespread agreement…unanimity. Makes me want to issue a “throw down challenge” to every person involved in the political world daring them to embrace consensus, widespread agreement, and unanimity. But why stop with just the political world. I witness the impact of intolerance on a regular basis in many areas of my daily life, and so do you. When will we all come together and say “ENOUGH!”
Why not now? You see, what lies at the heart of Ben’s quote is personal accountability. The biggest problem that social media has working against it is that it offers people a “free will” choice to post or respond to a post without having to be personally accountable for what they say. Okay, social media companies monitor death threats, terrorist activity, and threats to harm others, but that’s it. Someone could be shredding me, my family, my thought processes, and attempts to bring good will to the world with total immunity and absolutely no system that would hold them personally accountable. I could launch a counterattack (and many people do), but what a waste of time, energy, emotion, and intelligence. To accomplish what? The fact that I’ve attempted to prove what became evident before the age of 10…that two wrongs don’t make a right? Each of us is better than that and that is NOT how our time here on earth is meant to be spent. Our time here on earth is meant to be spent contributing to a world that’s better because of us, not in spite of us.
Ben Franklin wasn’t a perfect human being. Neither are any of us. We weren’t designed to be perfect. But we were designed with the tools necessary for making the world a better place. When we utilize the recipe of the unique skill sets that each of us have at our disposal, and add consensus, widespread agreement, and unanimity we come up with a final product that benefits ALL of us. When each of us are personally accountable for our thoughts, words we speak, and our actions we become open to embracing one another rather than repelling one another. Something great can only be built by embracing. Things can only be torn down by repelling.
The only view available from the bottom of the valley is that of the people climbing up the ladder of consensus moving to a higher spot on their personal positive mountaintop. It’s worth examining HOW they’re able to be making progress. The answer is in Ben’s quote “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” It is there that people can enjoy the real fruits of their labor. Their labor that includes determination, grit, mistakes that they learn from, personal accountability, help and support from other positive like-minded people, and a firm belief that the view from the top helps define their purpose in life. If you feel that people are ahead of your efforts to achieve worthwhile purpose in life, consistent joy in life, and having a positive impact on the world, pay close attention to how they instinctively utilize “self-accountability.” It really is the solution that can move all of us to consensus, widespread agreement, and unanimity.
So, spend a little time right now thinking about this different perspective I’m offering you today. Think about how you can embrace other people’s opinion and what that could look like rather than immediately repelling and trying to leapfrog your opinion over theirs. It’s okay if you still disagree as long as all of your effort then turns to building a bridge rather than lobbing a grenade. Grenades are designed to kill. Bridges are designed to connect over areas of turbulence or danger using ladders of consensus. The most solid of foundations are those built from ladders of consensus. Our forefathers, including Ben Franklin, disagreed on many things. Despite that, they were able to come together to provide us with a chance to show the world how solid our foundation is in spite of all the people attempting to destroy it. Only seems logical that none of the people attempting to destroy our foundation realize that they could directly benefit from the freedoms our foundation provides them. That’s self-defeating. So, let’s all strengthen our country’s foundation utilizing self-accountability, ladders of consensus, and either writing something worth reading or doing something worth writing. Let’s make Ben proud. C’mon, role up your sleeves and get busy building…right now. GiddyUp!
Paul White is a guest columnist and author. Purchase his life-changing book “The Answer Discovery – How to Change the World by Helping Others…and Ourselves” at http://bit.ly/PaulWhiteAmazon. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Paul, please submit an inquiry via our Contact Page.