I had been busy, traveling a lot, and all the while the grass in my front yard was getting out of hand. It was embarrassing. Finally, on a Saturday afternoon, I found the time get out, start up my mower, and tackle the job. When the task was finished, I took a quick shower, and sat down to relax a while, but I opened the blinds just so I could look out and admire a job well done. The difference was amazing!
Another day: The faucet in the bath tub had been leaking, getting worse with each passing day. It's not that tough a job, but considering all the time it takes to go to the hardware store to buy supplies and return to make the repairs, it can take a good part of the day, so it's easy to put it off. Finally, I could wait no longer. It had to be done. When the work was completed, I turned the water back on and walked back into the bathroom to see if my efforts had been successful. Yes!! No leaks!! For the next couple days when I was walking through my house, I would step into the bathroom just to take another look at the non-leaking faucet. It was beautiful.
There's just something about being able to look back at a job well done that brings a pleasurable sense of accomplishment...a feeling that makes all the efforts worthwhile. I can get those same good feelings with my job. I'm in sales, and I recently opened a new account in Arkansas. The first time I walked into that store, they had no collegiate products whatsoever. The next time I was there, they had a very impressive Razorback section, filled with merchandise supplied by me. I didn't say it, but I was proud of myself. I'm not a school teacher, but I can imagine how it must feel to see children who can write when they didn't even know their letters before coming into my class. It has to be a good feeling for a doctor to see healthy patients who might not even be alive if it hadn't been for his or her work. There have even been times after I've completed a long run that I have driven back over the route just to get a better appreciation of the mission accomplished.
Work is rarely fun while you're actually doing it, but when you're done, if you'll just take a quick look back a task completed, you will be amazed at how good it can make you feel to be able to see that you have really made a difference. It's a feeling that lazy people don't get to experience.
Preston
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCCX
Other than the book reports you had to do in school, have you ever sat down and began writing about something you know very little about? That's what I'm about to do. I'm going to expound on the differences between genetics and learned behavior. Since my knowledge of this topic is so extremely limited, chances are I will raise more questions than answers. As a matter of fact, I know so little about this subject that even though I've already sat down and started typing, I still don't know what I'm going to say. Actually, it's my fingers that are doing the typing, so let's see if they have any words of wisdom for us today.
I've often been told, especially by aunts and uncles, that I look and act just like my dad, except for the fact that he had red hair in his younger days. The looks are genetic; there's no question about that. But what about my actions? Do I act like him because I saw him act that way, or do I act like him because of inherited genetic traits? That could go either way. Although Dad would not be considered an accomplished singer and musician, he had more ability in that area than the average Joe. The same can be said for my siblings and me, as well as for most of my cousins on the Davidson side. Did we get that because we were brought up in that environment, or would we have that ability even if we had been adopted and raised in a "non-musical" family? Dad had a special talent for making people laugh, and so do my siblings and my cousins? Is that something we learned from being reared in that type of atmosphere, or does it just come natural?
Two of the most talented quarterbacks in the National Football League are brothers...Peyton and Eli Manning. Well, it just so happens that their dad, Archie Manning, was also a great quarterback. I firmly believe that those two brothers have something in their genes, passed down from their father, that gives them a natural ability that's absent in the average kid, yet it could've remained dormant had they not had a loving dad who carefully helped them to develop that genetic advantage and transform it into real talent. It makes me wonder how many people I know who perhaps lost a parent at an early age, and with that loss, they also lost the one person in life that could help them nurture some genetic advantages that are not there in the average person.
If you are an adopted child or an adoptive parent, you are probably a bit more of an expert on this subject than I am, since you've seen some traits in the adopted child that are not present in the parents. Also, I could name some traits my parents had that I did not inherit, as well as some characteristics I have that they did not have. I've heard it said that every individual has some special talents....everyone is good at something, and every parent should look for what it is in each of his or her children.
I've always been intrigued by this topic, although, like I said earlier, I don't really know that much about it, and since my knowledge is so limited, I won't be opening the floor for questions. I've told you more than I know already.
Preston
I've often been told, especially by aunts and uncles, that I look and act just like my dad, except for the fact that he had red hair in his younger days. The looks are genetic; there's no question about that. But what about my actions? Do I act like him because I saw him act that way, or do I act like him because of inherited genetic traits? That could go either way. Although Dad would not be considered an accomplished singer and musician, he had more ability in that area than the average Joe. The same can be said for my siblings and me, as well as for most of my cousins on the Davidson side. Did we get that because we were brought up in that environment, or would we have that ability even if we had been adopted and raised in a "non-musical" family? Dad had a special talent for making people laugh, and so do my siblings and my cousins? Is that something we learned from being reared in that type of atmosphere, or does it just come natural?
Two of the most talented quarterbacks in the National Football League are brothers...Peyton and Eli Manning. Well, it just so happens that their dad, Archie Manning, was also a great quarterback. I firmly believe that those two brothers have something in their genes, passed down from their father, that gives them a natural ability that's absent in the average kid, yet it could've remained dormant had they not had a loving dad who carefully helped them to develop that genetic advantage and transform it into real talent. It makes me wonder how many people I know who perhaps lost a parent at an early age, and with that loss, they also lost the one person in life that could help them nurture some genetic advantages that are not there in the average person.
If you are an adopted child or an adoptive parent, you are probably a bit more of an expert on this subject than I am, since you've seen some traits in the adopted child that are not present in the parents. Also, I could name some traits my parents had that I did not inherit, as well as some characteristics I have that they did not have. I've heard it said that every individual has some special talents....everyone is good at something, and every parent should look for what it is in each of his or her children.
I've always been intrigued by this topic, although, like I said earlier, I don't really know that much about it, and since my knowledge is so limited, I won't be opening the floor for questions. I've told you more than I know already.
Preston
Monday, February 6, 2012
Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCCIX
Can a person be dishonest and still be considered an honest person? In other words, can an honest person still get away with telling a few little lies? Do you ever have situations in your life when lying is the best policy? Are you honest? Do you ever lie? I'm not much of a movie person, but I remember one night a few years ago when I was on a cross-country flight, I watched a movie called "Liar Liar." In this picture, there was a little boy who made a wish that his dad would not be able to tell a lie, and his wish came true. From that moment on, everything the dad said was the honest truth. That picture was a comedy that was produced solely for entertainment, but it got me to thinking about how I've been guilty of telling some "innocent little lies." It brought to my mind the time several years prior when our pastor at the time called a seven-day fast at our church, but it was not a food fast; it was a sin fast. We had to go a whole week without committing any type of sin whatsoever. I remember thinking, "What kind of fast is this? This is gonna be easy." Wrong! I've always considered myself an honest person, but by the end of that week, I came away with a whole different opinion of what kind of person I really was, and I realized that I had been guilty of not always being completely truthful when a "little white lie" might sound better.
How do think you would've done? Let's give ourselves a little test to see how we would fare: We'll pretend that God put some invisible bells above our heads that ring every time we say something that's not true. Listed below are some typical statements that most of us make on a regular basis:
"Hi, George. It's good to see you." Ding Ding Ding
"If my kid did that, I'd wear her little tail out." Ding Ding Ding
"Don't apologize for saying that. I didn't give it a second thought." Ding Ding Ding
"I'll be helping you pray about that." Ding Ding Ding
"That short haircut looks cute on you." Ding Ding Ding
"I wasn't looking at her. I don't even know what color she had on." Ding Ding Ding
"No, you didn't wake me up." Ding Ding Ding
"No, I'm not buying you that candy. I don't have any money." Ding Ding Ding
So, how did you do? Are you guilty of any of those lies? In practically all of those situations, the lie would be a lot easier to tell than the truth. Let's examine it from the other side of the equation. Do you want other people to always be perfectly honest with you? You know, we can help them be more honest with us by not putting them in a situation where they feel that they need to lie. For example, maybe we shouldn't ask questions like, "How did you like my casserole?" I remember one friend who was very generous with her criticism of others, and one day she asked me, "Don't you want to know how I feel?" Well....no I didn't, but I lied and said, "Yeah, I guess." How would you have answered that question? Good conversation with family and friends can be a pleasurable experience, especially when we keep more of our opinions to ourselves and refrain from asking questions that put someone else on the spot. As Americans, we have the right to remain silent. Maybe we should exercise that right a little more often.
Preston
How do think you would've done? Let's give ourselves a little test to see how we would fare: We'll pretend that God put some invisible bells above our heads that ring every time we say something that's not true. Listed below are some typical statements that most of us make on a regular basis:
"Hi, George. It's good to see you." Ding Ding Ding
"If my kid did that, I'd wear her little tail out." Ding Ding Ding
"Don't apologize for saying that. I didn't give it a second thought." Ding Ding Ding
"I'll be helping you pray about that." Ding Ding Ding
"That short haircut looks cute on you." Ding Ding Ding
"I wasn't looking at her. I don't even know what color she had on." Ding Ding Ding
"No, you didn't wake me up." Ding Ding Ding
"No, I'm not buying you that candy. I don't have any money." Ding Ding Ding
So, how did you do? Are you guilty of any of those lies? In practically all of those situations, the lie would be a lot easier to tell than the truth. Let's examine it from the other side of the equation. Do you want other people to always be perfectly honest with you? You know, we can help them be more honest with us by not putting them in a situation where they feel that they need to lie. For example, maybe we shouldn't ask questions like, "How did you like my casserole?" I remember one friend who was very generous with her criticism of others, and one day she asked me, "Don't you want to know how I feel?" Well....no I didn't, but I lied and said, "Yeah, I guess." How would you have answered that question? Good conversation with family and friends can be a pleasurable experience, especially when we keep more of our opinions to ourselves and refrain from asking questions that put someone else on the spot. As Americans, we have the right to remain silent. Maybe we should exercise that right a little more often.
Preston
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