A Foot in the Mouth is Not As Good As Two in the Shoes

By Sun Advocate

I guess it is human nature to say what you think, especially when the repercussions of those statements are yet unknown. In my case, I often say things that I think, but haven’t really thought about.
Take the events in our office Monday afternoon. A few of us got into a debate over whether it was ethical to download music onto CDs from the internet. One of my colleagues does it all the time, but I charged ahead and said it was not ethical. I said that kind of behavior is going to kill the golden goose that creates the music. I said by my standards, it was wrong and that the producer and performer should get his or her full remuneration for the product they have produced.
As we finished the debate, my colleague put his arm around me and said “But I’m sure you didn’t mind listening to those Dennis Miller CD’s I made for you” as he walked away.
Once again I had reached the highest level of foot in mouth disease. Unfortunately it has reached epidemic proportions in the last week.
Another incident was with a family member, when I said something in a really duffus way and she got very upset with me. She had that right, because when you’re family you have the right to say most of what you think, but the other person also has the right to get as upset as they want to when somebody does something stupid. She forgave me, however, thankfully another characteristic of family relationships.
Then on Sunday I was dining with my wife in a nice place in Orem, having a great time. However, the jocularity got a little away from me when I, in some sprite of brain failure, said something that I thought was clever to the waiter about society in Utah County. He then told me he was part of that society, and smiled as he said it. My wife was appalled at my behavior and expressed her gratitude that we had already received our food. On departure (and it was rapid) I left a tip twice as big as orthodox behavior demands.
From now on I am going to keep my feet in my shoes and no matter how much I may be tempted I will not take them out and wiggle my toes any more.