In Neon How would you like a job where, if you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and eighteen thousand people boo? –Former hockey goalie Jacques Plante Mass Criticism If one person call you an ass or a donkey, pay no attention to him. But if five people call you one, go…
Author: Alan Holden
Cynics
Marvelous Discovery The story is going around that up in the Stanford Research Laboratories they have made an important change in procedure recently. Instead of using rats in their experiments, they are now using attorneys. When asked why this change was initiated, the head of the lab said: “Well, there are two reasons: there are…
Death
New Perspective For centuries it appeared to human beings that the earth was stationary and that the sun moved around it. Then a man named Copernicus came along and proved that what seemed obvious on the surface was not, in fact, true. It was the earth that was moving around the sun, not the sun…
Decisions
Painful Decisions Right next to our cabin near Austin, there was an oak tree that my son, Albert Jr., who had died in his twenties, had insisted on saving when the house was built a number of years ago. For years I had tried to steer the tree away from the house so that it…
Details
Details Make the Difference There must be detail in every great work. It is an element of effectiveness which no reach of plan, no enthusiasm of purpose, can dispense with. Thus, if a man conceives the idea of becoming eminent in learning, but cannot toil through the million of little drudgeries necessary to carry him…
Contentment
Self-Inventory The story is told of a farmer who had lived on the same farm all his life. It was a good farm, but with the passing years, the farmer began to tire of it. He longed for a change—for something “better.” Every day he found a new reason for criticizing some feature of the…
Conscience
Anticipatory Conscience Conscience is, in most men, an anticipation of the opinion of others. –Henry Taylor Keeping It Clean It’s easy enough to have a clear conscience—all it takes is a fuzzy memory. Willpower of Conscience A man consulted a psychiatrist. He complained, “I’ve been misbehaving, Doc, and my conscience is troubling me.” The doctor…
Confusion
Loss of Note I write down everything I want to remember. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on. –Beryl Pfizer Completely Befuddled A fellow bumped into his old friend whom he…
Conformity
Following Fads He who marries the spirit of the age will soon find himself a widower. –William R. Inge Everybody’s Doing It We all hear the cry (from our teenagers, if not many others), “But everybody’s doing it.” John Calvin called it “The Appeal to ‘Custom’ against Truth” in his Prefatory Address to King Francis…
Compassion
Telling about God Alice Lee Humphres, in her book Angels in Pinafores, tells about her experiences as a first grade teacher. She tells about one little girl who came to school one winter day wearing a beautiful white angora beret, white mittens, and a matching muff. As she was coming through the door, a mischievous…