Thanks, Mary.

I have to confess that lately, when I question an assumption, I sometimes find myself hesitating. So I started asking myself why. I realized that it seems less the norm now, so much so that sometimes I get an offended reaction, as if "How could you NOT understand what I meant? Or are you that out-of-touch?" I think perhaps too much electronic communications has done this to us. If we question something by email or in a way that doesn't also come with visual body language, we lose the context. And what might otherwise be conveyed as just genuine confusion or interest in ensuring we're all on the same page, instead becomes some sort of insult or derision. This is bad all the way around.

And so, despite my own occasional hesitations or discomfort, I still feel it's important for me to ask these kinds of clarifying questions. Let someone think I'm a dope -- at least I'm a dope that cares.  ;-)