Among other things: Foresight vs. hindsight

As if it weren’t already under way for months, the official  opening of the political  season is here. With all the emotional debate, charges and counter-charges, and heated discussions that have taken place during the past several months, I remembered a column I wrote for the Aug. 21, 1975, Flathead Courier. Somehow it still has a timely application:

Fortunate are the folks who are blessed with foresight instead of hindsight. They can look at critical situations in retrospect and think, “Gee, I handled that situation beautifully.”

But then there are the rest of us … or most of us anyway. Our retrospective reaction is usually, “If I only knew then what I know now, I would have responded quite differently.”

How many times have you walked away from a situation, confrontation, or opportunity to think a few minutes later, “I really would have made my point if I had done this …”, or the very common, “Man, if only I’d kept my fat mouth shut instead of sounding off …”

Especially regretted can be the times that one responds in anger with anger, instead of backing off and discussing the problem later when cooler, more objective emotions prevail. Sometimes it takes only a few minutes – or seconds – to destroy years of friendship.

And how many mutual problems have been compounded, complicated and unnecessarily prolonged by attitudes of antagonism, belligerence and suspicion – when if discussed in a calm atmosphere, it would be seen that most folks are seeking a just and fair solution?

Communication is certainly a basic need of people everywhere.