Blessed is e-mail. Without it, we wouldn't have such a quick, easy way to communicate with our clients, customers, family and friends. But like love, fire, chocolate and other gifts from God, or whomever you believe the Divine Creator to be, e-mail must be treated with respect, or the gift can turn into a curse as surely as chocolate sticks to the hips.

As more agents adopt e-mail as a method in communicating with their clients, offices, and other associates, it is important for them to share in the biblical wisdom of The Ten Commandments of E-mail:

Thou shalt include a clear and specific subject line. E-mails are records of communication, even if they never touch a piece of paper. By including a subject line, you and whomever you e-mail have a reference point in order to easily identify and retrieve information.

Thou shalt edit any quoted text down to the minimum thou needest. Because of the sheer speed of an e-mail message, people are able to send and receive many more messages than they could ever do by phone. Conversely, that means they are also getting more messages. So keep it short, sweet and to the point.

Thou shalt read thine own message thrice before thou sendest it. Did you leave anything out? Does the message express what you want to say? Does the tone of the message convey the right emotion? Do you sound friendly or terse? Is the address correct? Those are the kinds of reading between the lines you should do before you hit the send key.

Thou shalt ponder how thy recipient might react to thy message. E-mail is only one of many forms of communication, and not the best choice for certain kinds of messages. If your message has an emotional impact, requires a discussion or an immediate response, then the brevity of e-mail makes it an inappropriate medium. That's why you will never see George Clooney at the keyboard telling a family the patient died.

Thou shalt check thy spelling and thy grammar. When people read your misspelled e-mail on the other end, they may understand that your fingers hit the wrong key, but they won't appreciate that you didn't take the time to correct it. Ditto for poor grammar, and there is no excuse like hitting the wrong key for that. Poor grammar makes you look like a bumpkin. If you aren't sure of your grammar, ask someone else. No one will think less of you for double-checking your English. In fact, they will have more respect for you that you are guarding the impression you and your company want to make.

Thou shalt not curse, flame, spam or USE ALL CAPS. Once it is written, you can't take it back. E-mail is a record, remember? It is a cowardly form of sandbagging to curse or verbally abuse (flame) someone through e-mail, and you will never win friends that way. Your flaming message can be easily forwarded to any number of people who also will not be favorably impressed. We have enough words in the English language that you can choose the appropriate ones to express your feelings much more stylishly and accurately than through cursing. Our language has provided a universally understood means of emphasis - the exclamation point. All caps do not convey emphasis - they are the equivalent of shouting. Unless your purpose is to shout at your recipient, don't use them.

Thou shalt not forward any chain letter (Am I guilty...?). Why would you obligate, control or force any friend or colleague to participate in anything, much less a time-waster like a chain letter. Is that how you treat people you care about? Chain letters have no business in the workplace. They are a superstitious means of controlling other people and many would call that evil.

Thou shalt not use e-mail for any illegal or unethical purpose. Although the powers that be are still working on establishing legal guidelines for the Internet, it stands to reason that anything that is illegal in other forms of media will also be declared illegal on the Internet. A case is already pending in which a reporter claiming to be researching material for a story was recently arrested for downloading and e-mailing to himself pornographic pictures of children. Ethics simply go back to the golden rule - "That which thou findest hateful to receive, sendest thou not unto others." That is why bulk mail is such a no-no. Sending bulk mail via the Internet may save you some time, but it is an insult to the recipient, and it is particularly unethical if they can't e-mail you back to stop the messages.

Thou shalt not rely on the privacy of e-mail, especially from work. Again, e-mail is a record and you have no right to privacy if you are using company equipment.

When in doubt, save thy message overnight and reread it in the light of the dawn. Amen.