LET'S TALK ABOUT . . .


                                                  "VETTING TEMPLATES"


Vetting is an important process of examination and evaluation.  It determines what is an acceptable expression of ideology, position or creative endeavor.  In journalism and film we refer to the process as editing.  It attempts to safeguard against expressions that do not accurately express or portray what is desired.  It attempts to refine in order to lead to the desired outcome.  Individuals and collectives engage in vetting as a safeguard of expression and accountability.

We can never truly control communication.  By its very nature communication is at least a two party endeavor.  Vetting attempts to hone communication in order to avoid saying something that was never one's intention in the first place.  It is an attempt to communicate as accurately as possible and avoid unwanted interpretations as much as it lies within our capacity to do so.  Having said all of this, it is important to accept that human expressions and communications will always be vulnerable to interpretation.  We cannot control where they will land in another.  Lives have been constructively and destructively altered by a single word.  Life, itself, has, is and will be altered by a single word.

Take history as an example.  It is interpretive. This is why there are so many attempts at rewriting history with the perceived advantage of time and perspective coming to bear on the known facts.  The discovery of a single significant piece of previously unknown data can rewrite a chapter in history. The same is true in technology and science where research and development radically shift our notions, perspectives and ideologies regarding what is true or possible.

Another example is legal or forensic evidence.  Newly discovered evidence, like that provided by DNA, can turn a case upside down and flip a guilty or innocent verdict.   Connecting the dots between what was thought to be totally unrelated pieces of data can do the same thing.  The result is an entirely different picture of what really occurred as far as the new interpretation is capable of portraying.

We will never do it perfectly as human beings.  We can, however, attempt to do it well or to the best of our capacities at any given moment.  We need to be consciously intentional about how we express ourselves or bring ourselves to bear on any given situation.  It needs to always be done with an informed awareness of our own limitations and vulnerabilities at any given moment or in any given situation.  It is something we work at across our lifetime. 

Vetting templates are crucial to accurate expression and communication.  We all have templates, or grids, through which we send, receive and interpret our lives and our world.  We need to be increasingly aware of them and how that affects our expressions of self, our ability to accurately communicate.  It is okay to admit our limitations and vulnerabilities.  Integrity demands it.

None of us have it all figured out.  We just simply are not that good.  We are limited, finite human beings trying to get enough of our needs met to survive and, maybe, thrive in this world.  There are many who have never had the opportunity to even imagine the latter.  May we be vulnerably grateful for what life has afforded us, withhold judgments and grow in the knowledge of our own vetting templates, as well as their limitations and vulnerabilities.

Until next time . . . this is Just Janice!