The Game
I just noticed a red 'T' on my left hand. I went to a bar yesterday to watch the game and they wrote either a 'T' or an 'O' on your hand depending on who you wanted to win. Whenever your team scored you got a free shot/drink. It's a good thing I left at 9:30 or I would be in a coma today.
I don't have much to say about the game. I'm glad Tampa Bay won because I hate the Oakland Raiders. Almost as much as the Dallas Cowboys. The commercials were mediocre, I thought. The best part of the whole fiasco was Gwen Stefani.
And so, football season is officially over. That will make a lot of people either very happy or very sad. I am part of the latter.
Truth Hits Everybody
Communication is important and so is diplomacy. This seems like such an obvious point but think about it - how many times have you failed at both? A hundred times? A thousand? You can't count it, can you? Everyone talks about how important it is but don't then always put it into practice. Nations or people. Sometimes, you just can't communicate with a Saddam Hussein because he's a raving lunatic but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about dealing with a mostly rational Nation like Canada.
Communication
Communication is important - early, because it establishes the rules. There has to be rules. Everyone knows how the game will be played and no one can complain later on. Too often the rules aren't established early on and that's when the fighting starts. No rules = problems.
Here's a crappy analogy. Harold decides to become a rabid NY Jets fan, paints his face and goes to every game. He has the best of intentions because he loves the Jets and thinks he might land a job as the mascot and how cool would that be? But his family thinks that he spends a little too much time with the Jets. He loves it and doesn't understand what the problem is. They just want to spend a little more time with Harold and don't understand why he doesn't see that. See? There are no bad intentions by either Harold or his family. Just horrible communication. And that leads to Diplomacy.
Diplomacy
Once communication is in the crapper, then we get to diplomacy. Once again on an International, National or personal level. Doesn't matter. You have completely fucked up the communication portion and now here you are. You have a chance to save the situation you have helped to create by not communicating. Don't be belligerent. Don't be a jackass, in other words. It will most definetly lead to more miscommunication.
So, what to do? First and foremost, be diplomatic. Concede points you heretofore were unwilling to concede to if you were being belligerent and a jackass. Admit that communication could have been better. That maybe the way you originally perceived things might not have been the way others perceived them. My point is, you almost have an Internation Incident on your hands. Don't make it worse.
Diplomacy stops the bombs from dropping. It re-establishes communication. No one wants the bombs. Saddam deserves them. You don't. I said at the beginning how this was all so obvious. It should be but it's not. You don't see things the same way the person sitting right next to you does. Communicate and you'll be surprised.