Civility Corner - March 14, 2014

One day, the wind and the sun were sitting around casually gazing upon the goings on in the earth. A man caught their attention as he walked in an open area with a long and heavy coat.

An argument ensued over which of them could cause him to remove it. A flip of the coin and the wind got to go first. It blew and blew which at one point knocked the man down. However the man rose to his feet and drew his coat tighter and tighter. "You lose!" the sun shouted. The sun then simply increased its brightness and warmth, and the man slipped out of his coat.

You may already know this story from Aesop's Fables. It's much easier to get people to cooperate with you if you don't try to blow them away with the hard and harsh winds of verbal hostility. Firm and respectful words work infinitely better. This value is timeless and spans across cultures. After all, a soft word turns away anger.