Written versus Oral communication

Written versus Oral communication

Last Sunday I had to reevaluate, how effective and neighbor-friendly my written communication devices have been. I’m talking about the writing and posting of notes to my family members:

Note #1: "Please take your shoes off" posted outside the front door

Note #2 addressed to Jason:  "Would you please keep your clothes off the floor at all times (hang them up in the closet/put them into the laundry/keep them folded in the basket)? I'd greatly appreciate it, Mom"

The outcome was negative in both cases.

Reaction to Note #1: My husband started writing notes to me. He refused to answer my questions, but scribbled some messages on the note pad. I got upset. I refused to read any more after reading the first note.

Reaction to Note #2: The note accomplished nothing. My son's clothes remained in the same location/scattered in the same manner.

After my emotions cooled down, I started talking, and life returned .My husband said that he had expected some emergency type of notice on the door, but as he got closer, he got very much turned off by the message. My husband didn't understand the reason for the note. I had tried to avoid vacuuming the area by the front door for the third time within the last two days due to the bad weather outside. My husband said that he had recognized the weather factor and would have taken his shoes off as he usually would without the note.

Jason hasn't been home long enough to be questioned about the note. I decided to remove it.

Today-- a note was handed to me along with today's mail. It was a green slip from the Lapwai City Waste management: "Your garbage did not get emptied for the following two reasons....”

It showed a house number and the name of a street. The house number was correct; the name of the street was not. Did I just receive another problem-solving puzzle/ misplaced piece of mail from the post office?  The slip was wet, but the rest of the mail was dry. My son had pulled it off the garbage can. Guess what?--

The note was useless: Our garbage can proved to be empty.  

Maybe I'm slowly gaining an understanding of how annoying notes can be. I have stopped using them for now, except when they serve as a necessary tool to relate important dates or appointments, or other important and unselfish reminders that might otherwise be forgotten, because…

“I reap what I sow”.

"The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

At the Post office

At the Post office

As it has happened many times before, my son, who regularly picks up our mail at the post office, returned yesterday with a piece of mail belonging into someone else's post office box. It wasn't junk mail, but a reminder/bill for the renewal of a license plate. I said to Peter: “You need to return this to the lady at the post office counter tomorrow.”

Today Peter came home saying, “they just laughed at me." No thank you? No, no thank you was received. --Should I pick up the phone and call them? Should I just toss everything that doesn't belong to us into the trash from now on? Shall I call her up the next time, when I receive someone else’s pay check or some other important document again and tell the lady that she can pick it up here at my house? No, I decided to tell Peter that the next time we’re getting someone else’s mail he should simply throw it back into the mail drop at the post office. This way, we will still be fulfilling our duty, and Peter won't get laughed at. The way to go!

I’m giving myself a pat on my shoulder for this.

At Wal-Mart

At Wal-Mart

I have realized yesterday, while shopping at Wal-Mart, that my selfish tendencies and behaviors may well be evaluated in my public surroundings. Here are some better and worse behaviors that I have observed:

The worse option was to drop the unwanted clothing item on some shelf with other clothing.

The better option was to hang up the pair of pajamas on the rack by the dressing room, where other rejected clothing items were hanging. It was better to make the effort of going out of my way to place the items where it is considered appropriate.

The best option would be to return the items to the same place and in the same shape, as I had picked them up.

I'm still far from doing the perfect thing,

but I’m trying to keep the above principles posted in my mind.