GOLDEN RULES

I was contemplating a person's guilt this morning. His guilt is way out of proportion to his misdeed...plus it happened a dozen years ago. Double plus, his guilt is not mine to assuage. But I do empathize with him...mainly because he is still lashing out at the party he maligned, and he is utterly oblivious to the fact that that is the taproot of his ongoing guilt.

As I sat there, a quote of the long-time gone but never forgotten Senator Everett Dirksen (R-IL) floated through my mind. My recollection of that quote is, "This [event] will have all the force and effect of a snowflake on the bosom of the Potomac."

I applied that to the man's remarks all those years ago, and that is exactly the result they had on the person he was referring to. They had all the force and effect of a snowflake on the bosom of the Potomac.

I have always loved that quote...mainly because it applies so aptly to about 90% of all our rues, regrets and remorses.

That's going to be my co-golden rule. My golden rule is: Try not to be as nasty as you want to be. Now, right along with that: Let this have all the force and effect of a snowflake on the bosom of the Potomac. 

I hope I remember that.

Thank you.