Message-ID: <7446592.1075846767994.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Thu, 4 May 2000 06:33:00 -0700 (PDT) From: susan.scott@enron.com To: benjamin.freeman@enron.com Subject: Reminder Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Susan M Scott X-To: Benjamin Freeman X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Susan_Scott_Dec2000_June2001_2\Notes Folders\Correspondence X-Origin: SCOTT-S X-FileName: sscott5.nsf While I don't truly fear you becoming a bitter individual as a result of these negative experiences, I do feel the highlighted section below is now more appropriate than ever. One must keep their eyes open and use all of the wisdom they possess when they trust. Just as I suggested that positive experiences can cause one's level of trust to grow exponentially, negative experiences can cause irreparable harm. If you trust blindly or too willingly and that trust is violated it colours every aspect of your life. There are too many people in this world that have become bitter and cynical, not because they were born that way but, because they handed out trust haphazardly and too many times that trust was thrown back in their face. I don't mean to suggest from the above that one should live in a day-to-day mind-set of distrust but rather that they must really look at people and all the aspects which they posses. I have come to the conclusion that if you spend most of your time observing and listening to people rather than always taking the lead you will learn a great deal more about them and their character. The smallest acts and statements can in fact say the most, so always be observant. (This includes listening to what others have to say and paying attention to the opinions of people whom you respect.) To that end I have one last comment...I am constantly amazed and periodically reminded what fragile creatures we humans are. That beyond the hype and self-grandizing the basic components of ourselves (our experiences, fears, cares, concerns, needs etc.) cannot be completely disregarded and will always be a part of us. I think that only by recognizing those components and trying to understand their origin can we truly become stronger.