RESPONDING TO CRITICISM
And speaking of Peanuts, one of my favorites shows Charlie Brown looking over the shoulder of his sister Sally as she starts to write something on a piece of paper. Her first word is “Deer.” Charlie Brown immediately comments “That should be ‘Dear,'” and then adds, “In the salutation of a letter, the proper word, and spelling of that word, is ‘Dear'” Sally merely looks at him, without comment, and then turns back to her paper and continues her sentence: “Deer are beautiful animals found in most parts of the world.” As soon as he sees this sentence, Charlie Brown starts to back pedal, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were writing about deer. I apologize.” Sally turns all her wrath on him, “Well, I should hope so! It seems to me that a lot of the problems in this world are caused by people who criticize other people before they know what they’re talking about! Charlie Brown leaves, totally embarrassed…
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