Have a problem?

 

With all of our kids home this week, George decided to treat us to dinner at South Side Soda Shoppe.  As I looked at the menu, debating between the award-winning chili and noodles or a Philly cheesesteak, this announcement caught my eye. 

"Have a problem? Tell a human, not a follower. Please tell us while you are here when we can do something about it! A human created the problem, and a human can fix it."

It made me reflect on the disappointing and fruitless trend in our society today to complain, critique and run down others or our experiences with them instead of working with them for solutions.  This is especially true of our online behaviors and using social media to harm other people's businesses and reputations instead of giving them the chance to make it right. 

Apparently this isn't a new human behavior, as Brigham Young counseled,  "And if we have difficulty of misunderstanding with each other, talk it over, canvass the subject thoroughly, seriously and discreetly, and we shall find that all difficulties will be remedied in this way easier than any other; and we shall also find that nearly every difficulty that arises in the midst of the inhabitants of the earth, is through misunderstanding; and if a wrong in intent and design really exists, if the matter is canvassed over in the manner I have advised, the wrongdoer is generally willing to come to terms."

It may not prevent problems in every situation, but it is certainly worth making it our first response.  

I hope I can do better at giving people the opportunity to make things right, which is what I would want for me.  No matter what the rest of society does.