The Careful Use of Compliments

You can get on fairly well with a kind compliment; but have you ever thought of the use of them or the power they possess? In The Careful Use of Compliments, by Alexander McCall Smith the use of compliments and not at least advices are discussed.

The principle character, Isabel Dalhousie has recently become a mother and her time seems to be fully occupied. But when she, by a mere chance interferes with a forged painting and its mysteriously missing painter she suddenly have plenty of time for detective work. She get entangled with a complicated story involving the downside of celebrity as well as family intrigues, a story which turns out more intricate than Isabel ever imagined.

Isabel Dalhousie is the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics and therefore we come across ethics and moral reasoning throughout the whole book. No wonder my minds started to develop and hundreds of questions came to my mind meanwhile the reading, the novel is after all a part of The Sunday Philosophy Club series.

Meanwhile her detective work proceeds she can’t decide whether it was right of her to meddle with the forged painting from the beginning. More and more it seems to her as it was none of her business. Started from there I developed my ideas about advices in general; it resulted in umpteen questions but not a single answer! I tried to find the dividing line between kindness and curiosity. I attempt to decide whether it is right to meddle with other people’s concerns at all, if the truth always is the best or if there are situation where a lie is to prefer. My thoughts developed further… is it okay to step in even if the person doesn’t ask a favor?

There are many questions to answer and options for us to choose among every day. I have only brought up a few that came to my mind meanwhile reflecting about advices and compliments.

At first I was a bit irritated though I was unable to find any answers to my questions. But later on I found out that there mustn’t be a complete solution, not immediately. You can’t pick up the use of compliments by reading; it is a result of experience. Meanwhile I gather mine; I will act as proper as possible, use compliments and advices carefully in order to improve both my personality and bond of friendship.

No one can do everything, but everyone can do something

I live an almost perfect life surrounded by people I love. I have a bed, I have enough food to fill up my stomach and I have a home. My life is embellished with unforgettable moments, in brief I am happy. Many people are in the same situation as I am, but access to potable water and food is not a matter of course for all human beings.

There are millions of men, women and children around the world living in poverty. Millions of refugees and many more people in want of actual necessities such as clean water. According to Food and Agriculture Organization close to 15% of the world population, 923 million people were undernourished in 2007. Isn’t this strange considering we already produce enough food to feed all these mouths? The world is unfair and we better cope with this problem as soon as possible! It is our common mission.

I wish we could reform the world over one night. See that every person get a roof over their head, enough to eat and access to clean water in the near future. Unfortunately it seems a long way to go even in my dreams but it is possible! It is each man's duty to take their responsibility. No one can do everything but everyone can do something. Charity does not necessarily mean donating large sums of money, even a small sum is a great help. We can also help quite easy by choose ecological, local produced and fair trade products and food. And not at least we can reduce our consumption. None of this changes lives like mine dramatically but hopefully it improves someone else’s. We can help, without give up what we have. Let us cooperate.

This came to my mind when I watched Annie Leonard’s presentation, The Story of Stuff. It made my dream of world peace develop. Even thought her message is not a pioneer, she points out how easy we can be helpful in the struggle for a better and fairer society. I hope we will succeed!

About Snooping Bosses

To begin with, I thought spying was absolutely okay! Not to say an authority for the management. If there is any reason to believe that the employers waste their time, the boss obviously should have the opportunity to investigate how matters stand.

A manager, in the article points out that he doesn’t “give a rat’s rear” what his employers do at home, that his business is what they do at work. It is an excellent view, which I very much like to share. But all of a sudden I realized how difficult it is to separate work and spare time. As a serious boss works for development, progress and fair play in his company, he must care about the credibility of his employers. Honesty and responsibility at work have a close connection with our leisure. How are we suppose to distinguish what’s spare time and what’s work?

Before I knew where I was, I began to change my mind. I thought of privacy, reminded myself of integrity and leisure time. Even though, there is nothing I like to conceal at the moment, there might be things I prefer people not to know about. Suddenly, I find that there is a slight difference between spying and control. Another difference we have to make clear.

At this stage I realized my thoughts of Snooping Bosses where a complete mess. Even, in the time of writing I have changed my opinion untold times. The reason could be that I am shilly-shally, but most likely it is because there are so many things, both pros and cons to allow for. Right now, I stand up for Snooping Bosses because I have convinced myself that only the knowledge of being supervised is enough to do what you’re told. Further if someone gets caught with cheating it will most likely be a long time before they try again.

Finally, I likt to say that i solely hope snoop is a temporary method, not necessary in the long run. It might be my own fallacy but i believe that all people actually try to do their best, work hard and in some way like to succeed.