The office memo… The e-mail telling you what you should do… Sometimes co-workers find that the easiest way to communicate, other times what they send is self-serving, and still other times some memos and e-mails are obviously part of office intrigue.
In 74 B.C. the Roman statesman Cicero came back from a distinguished tour of duty in Sicily. He assumed that people knew of his service. They should have but they didn’t. Some didn’t even know that he had been out of Rome. Cicero learned a lesson from that. “Once I had realized that the Roman people were rather deaf, but sharp-eyed, I stopped worrying about what the world heard about me. From that day on, I took care to be seen in person every day.” (Anthony Everett, p. 70)
Years later St. Paul had a similar experience. He knew that people reacted differently to his letters than to his presence (2 Corinthians 10:10-11). So he often wrote of his desire to see people in person. His sincerity is proved by all the traveling he did throughout the Mediterranean world.
Sometimes memos and e-mails have to be sent, but shouldn’t love prompt more personal conversation in your office? Get some exercise. Take a walk. Face-to-face conversations can take the edge off.
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