A lot of people are fond of saying you should never assume because it makes a such-and-such of you and me. I think that's kind of ridiculous. The only alternatives to assuming things are to 1) get complete information or 2) never do anything.
Let's say you are planning a party and you want all the guests to like each other. You can 1) get complete information. Find out how everyone feels about each other guest individually and in a group. How? Ask them? You are making the assumption that they're honest about their feelings. 2) Don't have a party. Crisis averted. 3)Make some reasonable assumptions. I guess we could throw in 4) change your goal to something more reasonable.
Why my ramblings on assumptions? I was working cleaning carpets in BYU's police station. The police all assumed I belonged there (good assumption, as it turned out). I assumed all the people I saw there were actually police department employees. Probably it was a good assumption. But wouldn't it be funny if one of them was actually a thief, and all my smug, "ha, this proves that we need assumptions!" thoughts were way off base?
That's exactly what happened, too, because the police station was robbed last night.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding.
You're assuming we should be assuming. Quit making a such and such out of us!
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