On Assumptions

I've been thinking a lot about assumptions today.

I was thinking about them because this morning I had to drive back, park, and run back onto the house to send a file; as I was doing so a passer-by saw fit to passively-aggressively chastise me about parking too far from the curb.

I was thinking about them because, as my friend Mo commented on Twitter earlier this week:

There's a review of Refugia floating around whose assumptions about a scene skewering the dangers of assumptions are just too ironic 4 words.

I was thinking about them because I had to stop my car and sit by the side of the road for a few minutes while listening the the "74 Seconds" podcast about the shooting of Philando Castile.

There are all kinds of assumptions, and some dramatically different consequences.

But what if we actively fought against assumptions, rather than piecing them together into "what is the truth" like a low-budget Law and Order episode?

What if we assumed that people around us were doing the best they could, and sometimes made mistakes but maybe had a lot going on in their lives?

What if we assumed that they were trying to do something good instead of trying to do something bad?

What if we took the route of praise rather than blame?