apropos of my post about MasterChef awhile back, I wanted to share Andrea Siegel’s New York Times Magazine piece “The Life Lessons Hidden in Reality TV.”  I particularly liked the first section, on Survivor, although I think I’ve seen maybe one episode during its many seasons–it’s about the utter inability of most of us to be anyone other than who we are, even when we know what our weaknesses are and that they are going to get us thrown off the island.

My sister recently reminded me of Will Rogers’s dictum “Never miss a good chance to shut up.”  It’s worth remembering.  Of course, I immediately went into a meeting and said something that, in retrospect, would have been better left unsaid.  Fortunately, the corollary to Rogers’s principle is that if you regret what you didn’t shut up about, you can always say so.  No lasting harm done.