Decisions, Deletions, Discretion

Yesterday's post, "Charity in Truth: 'Urgent' Plus 44 Years and Counting," was a little over 12 hours late. Here's why:

Decisions

I had an opportunity to practice patience yesterday. It doesn't have much to do with the subject of charity, social justice, and human development: or maybe it does. I'll let you decide.

Normally, I'd have written the post over the weekend and set it to show up Monday morning.

I got my schedule muddled, and didn't have time for posts in three blogs and the monthly bulletin I prepare for the local Knights of Columbus council. Sunday evening, I realized that I wasn't going to get everything finished, and prioritized what I had. The K. C. Bulletin was at the top of the list, and got sent to the printer; two posts got written; the one for this blog didn't.

Deletions

I started work on this post a little before noon. Two breaks for meals later, I had a well-written, nicely-organized post. All I had to do was write a short wrap-up paragraph or two.

Then I deleted the entire post. How, I don't know. I tried the usual 'undo,' 'control-z,' and other tricks. This has happened before, so I wasn't surprised that they didn't work.

Now, I was left with a title and a general idea of what I'd written. 'Frustrating' is a bit on an understatement.

Discretion

I had quite a few options: have a conniption over the SNAFU; find someone or something to blame; take a deep breath and start over.

I decided to start over.

The point, if there is one, is that stuff happens. Then we decide what we're going to do about it. That's where ethics comes in - and that's another topic.

Sort-of-related posts:

• " 'Religious People aren't Reasonable?' "
  (December 18, 2011)
• "Having Good Judgment isn't Being Judgmental"
  (October 12, 2011)
• "Loving Neighbors: Even the One Who Stole Our Gospel Book"
  (September 4, 2011)
• "Giving: From the Heart, and Other Vital Organs"
  (March 17, 2011)
• "You think You had a Bad Day? Elijah, Jezebel, and a Reality Check"
  (January 16, 2011)