Think, Research, Listen, Speak: Cesar Chavez is a State Holiday Today, Somewhere

Forget Eat, Pray, Love or Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. My mantra is fast becoming:

Think, Research, Listen, Speak.

The arguments, legal, profound, profane, insane, in Portland, Oregon over naming a street after Cesar Chavez reminds me how quickly many of us are to speak (or comment on blogs) before doing the research. Most important issues in life, whether personal, professional, legal or culinary, are not simple (see, e.g., Jonah Leher’s, How We Decide).

In California (and at least 7 other states), Cesar Chavez Day is a state holiday today. To get to holiday status, one must argue the point, seemingly endlessly, but eventually the Legislature and the Governor have to decide. And sometimes one then pushes on to National Holiday status.

In Portland, Oregon, street naming, there is a procedure, but that is only a starting point (or a middle point). Where it all ends isn’t clear, but it would help if people didn’t hurry, or speak, or shout so much, so fast, before they: Think, research, listen, speak.