A great colleague and friend used to say to me, “Be careful how deep you dig that trench.”   We worked in a very political corporate environment and being on the extreme end of any opinion, unless you were the boss, and in reality it was unless you were the boss’s boss’s boss, was a tenuous position indeed.  This was especially true with anything written down – particularly e-mail.

Now, I’m in an academic environment, where it seems that everyone is climbing all over themselves to dig their trenches as deep as possible.  I have seen the discussion board posts to prove it.  I think that some people equate having big opinions with having big thoughts.  And in school, big thoughts are the keys to the kingdom, right?

Maybe its my years of being both the target of corporate bullies and a spectator to some amazing career flame outs that I am yet to embrace this philosophy.  Sure, I have opinions and I hope I think big thoughts, but I’m not quite ready to draft a vitriolic blast and shoot it out into cyberspace.

So, for now, I’ll stay here up top a bit longer.  Honestly, I think the view is better from up here.