Great Minds Discuss Ideas

I recently came across a quote attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt. “Great Minds Discuss Ideas; Average Minds Discuss Events; Small Minds Discuss People.”

I first saw this quote several weeks ago and I jotted it down. My mind has come back to this quote frequently over the past few weeks.

Why is it that so many of us settle for discussing people? Why is it that so many of us limit our discussions to events that took place? Why is it that too few of us discuss ideas (the whys behind the events or the people)?

It is easy to talk about people. We would have done that differently, can you believe what they did… It is much easier to talk about events. For some reason it is not so easy to discuss our ideas. Our ideas are more personal. What if they don’t understand my ideas, what if they don’t like my ideas, what if they clip my article out of the paper and pass it around to others and have a good laugh at my expense…

The ideas, the answers to the why’s of life are the things we need to spend time sharing. Recently I began to go through the history of Clyde First United Methodist Church. I have shared some of the things I have learned with the saints that attend this Church. In our 107 year history there have been a lot of people; we could spend hours discussing the people who have attended this church, what they did, and for many why they left. There have been a lot of events held at this church or hosted by this church; we could spend many hours discussing the events that have taken place. As I went through the church history I began to see a pattern. The events changed, the people changed but the ideas (the answers to the why did we do that) seldom have.

The answers to the why’s, the ideas behind so much of what we do are spelled out differently for each group we are a part of, for each family we come in contact with, and often for each individual. The ideas may be spelled out differently but a common thread in all of them is that, in sharing an idea, sharing part of our self, sharing our answer to the why’s of life we share a part of who we are with others. In sharing a part of ourselves we become more vulnerable, but we also become more connected to those we share with.

Even in writing this article, wanting to share some of my ideas, I feel very vulnerable in sharing them. But maybe, it takes me being more vulnerable. Maybe it takes you being more vulnerable. In doing so others can know me and know you and as we share our ideas (not just discussions of events or people) we share ourselves and together we can continue to build our community.