Words Are Actions and in Social Media, Just as Powerful.

A couple of years ago, my wife, we’ll call her C, and I were driving through down town Knoxville. It was a cold, early winter day. That kind of overcast, damp, November day that makes you cold on the inside. We passed a homeless man without a coat, quite obviously cold by his huddled up, hands-in-pockets stance. C tells me to stop the car and she starts to get out. “Baby, where are you going?” I ask. She said, “I’m going to give him my jacket.”  Now this jacket she “stole” from me. It wasn’t a particularly expensive coat, but there was meaning attached to it. “But honey,” I pleaded, “that is the coat you wore while you were pregnant and wore all over England on our honeymoon.” She looked down at it and then at me and said that we will never forget either of those times, but that he needed it more than she did. Off she went. I didn’t hear the exchange of words but the man seemed to, at first hesitantly, then gladly accept her offer.

That was, and is, the kindest act of compassion I have ever witnessed, and makes me that much more proud to call C my wife. She really is an amazing woman. Her simple gift gave an anonymous human a bit of warmth, and gave me a deeper understanding of humanity, something I’m sure, neither he, nor I will ever forget.

I’ve been seeing a lot of unfriendly words lately across the digital platforms. I’ve been guilty of it in the past. We’ve seen plenty of case studies of people tweeting/updating as  their personal selves, without regard, or simply forgetting about the company they represent. The outcomes have shown us that not only is this bad for the person’s credibility but for the company’s as well, and can have a lasting impression, resulting in loss of job for the individual, and sometimes loss of sales for the company regardless of their follow up actions.

I ask you, do you really think it is beneficial to take the defensive stance and say some heated/hurtful  things, or would you rather give someone a jacket?