A Bias That Shows Did you read about the little boy who returned home after his first Sunday school class? His mother asked, “Who was your teacher?” and the little boy answered, “I don’t remember her name, but she must have been Jesus’ grandmother because she didn’t talk about anyone else.” Does our conversation reflect…
Author: Alan Holden
Wisdom
Prudent Sleepers It’s better to sleep on what you plan to do than to be kept awake by what you’ve done. Sensible Crossing Never insult an alligator until you’ve crossed the river. Looking and Acting See everything, overlook a lot, correct a little. –Pope John XXIII Higher Faculty Imagination is more important than knowledge. –Albert…
Vengeance
Don’t Get Mad, Just Get Even Jack’s mother ran into the bedroom when she heard him scream and found his two-year-old sister pulling his hair. She gently released the little girl’s grip and said comfortingly to Jack, “There, there. She didn’t mean it. She doesn’t know that hurts.” Mom was barely out of the room…
Uniqueness
Considering Myself If I try to be like him, who will be like me? There’s Always One We need to treasure our uniqueness. Even those aspects of uniqueness that don’t always fit in. I saw this illustration in a cartoon that showed the foreman of a jury at the door of the jury room giving…
Truth
Distortion Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. –Mark Twain Head and Heart We arrive at the truth not by reason alone, but also by the heart. Sound Reasons The soundest reasoning leads to the wrongest conclusions when the premises are false. Communicating Ideas You may treat…
Trust
Lift Up Your Head When my son was a toddler, washing his hair was always a problem. He would sit in the bathtub while I put shampoo on his hair. Then, when I poured on the water to make a lather, he would tip his head down so that the shampoo ran into his eyes,…
Time
Sure-fire Timepiece Victor Borge told a friend that he could tell time by his piano. His friend was incredulous, so Borge volunteered to demonstrate. He pounded out a crashing march. Immediately there came a banging on the wall and a shrill voice screamed, “Stop that noise. Don’t you know it’s 1:30 in the morning?” News…
Temptation
Dealing with Temptation There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is a cowardly response to the fact that you might get caught. Persistent Knocking Why is it that opportunity knocks only once, yet temptation bangs on the door constantly? Ever Notice? Ever notice that the whisper of temptation can be heard farther…
Talk
Rare Restraint Albert Einstein had a wholesome disregard for the tyranny of custom. Once as a guest of honor at a dinner given for him by the president of Swarthmore College, he was called on for a speech. He said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I am very sorry but I have nothing to say” and sat…
Tact and Diplomacy
A Thin Line Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy. The Difficulty of Being Right A passenger on a dining car looked over the luncheon menu. The list included both a chicken salad sandwich and a chicken sandwich. He decided on the chicken salad sandwich, but absentmindedly wrote chicken sandwich…