Assume: (v) to suppose to be the case, without proof

I guess it is demanded of me that I tip my hat or give hommage to the classic joke that the word assume makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me.”

That fulfilled, though certainly not being righteous, I will tell you that “assume” is a word which is normally used by human beings until we get caught.

We expect things of people. We assume.

If they go buy an ice cream cone and we are in the car with them, we assume they will buy one for us. So great is this assumption that if they don’t, we feel the complete right to be offended, even though we never asked them to offer us an equal portion.

Assuming is part of life. There are some good things we assume:

• We assume someone should say “thank you” when we give them a gift.
• We assume that holding the door open for another human being should be common practice instead of the chivalry of a knight.
• We assume that people will be faithful.
• We even assume that God loves us, and that He is going to take us all to heaven someday.

So where does assumption go awry?

Whenever we assume things that are essential, and should not bet they should not be left to chance, we open the door to a disappointment of our own making, which we will certainly blame on others.

I venture to say that a majority of the misunderstandings between human beings is based on the fact that someone assumed something would happen, and when it did not, the offending party was viewed as an insufferable Cretin.

On the other hand, the party deemed to be the offender feels completely innocent because he or she was unaware of the need to perform any particular task.

There’s an old adage which says “you don’t have because you don’t ask.”

Yet asking can be very frightening.

So I guess the lesson about assuming is that we should work on being less afraid–otherwise, be prepared to go without… because we assume too much without making a formal request.

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix