RANDOM THOUGHTS #219
Steve Cole ponders various
thoughts that came to mind.
1. If it's important, you'll find a way to do it. If it's not important, you'll find an excuse not do.
2. Make the other guy play your game; don't play his.
3. Invited to a group activity, you're given the leftover equipment nobody else wanted to use. If you're serious about learning if the group activity is something you'd be interested in, you'll put up with it once or twice. After that, whoever provided the equipment for everybody else needs to provide decent equipment for you. (And if everybody else bought their own stuff, buy your own when you know that this is something you'll continue.)
4. Successful people want to find opportunities where helping yourself also helps others. Unsuccessful people are out for themselves and don't care if anyone else benefits or not.
5. Be very careful in making enemies. If there is a way to work with or within the existing power structure, give that a try first before you launch a revolution. (Most revolutions fail and most revolutionaries are remembered unfavorably.) Claire (on Outlander) should have told the priest something like this: "You know that Satan sets traps around the old ruins to ensnare souls. This leaf is part of the trap; it made the boy sick enough that a demon could get inside him. If you let me cure the damage the leaf did with this elixir, you will have an easier time of removing the demon while the boy is still alive." That would have been win-win-win. The priest (who knew the kid was going to die) gets to claim he saved him. The boy lives. And you now have a priest who will ask for your help not reject you as a person.
6. Never get into a battle with a pig. The pig enjoys the mud, and enjoys getting you dirty.
7. I came across a Polish proverb the other day that made me laugh. "When someone tries to involve you in their drama just say 'This is not my circus; those are not my monkeys,' and move on."
8. If you find something offensive, maybe you should go looking for it less often?
9. Scientists told us not to freak out about Ebola and we did anyway. But then, when they told us to freak out about global warming we just laughed at them.
10. Fifty years ago, my Boy Scout Handbook included this story: Two boys were walking down the forest road. Upon reaching the camp, Bill noticed that Fred's boots were fairly clean while his own boots were muddy. Bill asked why, and Fred said "I look where the mud is and put my feet somewhere else." The point of the story (in the handbook) was to not go places or do things that were going to be "muddy."
1. If it's important, you'll find a way to do it. If it's not important, you'll find an excuse not do.
2. Make the other guy play your game; don't play his.
3. Invited to a group activity, you're given the leftover equipment nobody else wanted to use. If you're serious about learning if the group activity is something you'd be interested in, you'll put up with it once or twice. After that, whoever provided the equipment for everybody else needs to provide decent equipment for you. (And if everybody else bought their own stuff, buy your own when you know that this is something you'll continue.)
4. Successful people want to find opportunities where helping yourself also helps others. Unsuccessful people are out for themselves and don't care if anyone else benefits or not.
5. Be very careful in making enemies. If there is a way to work with or within the existing power structure, give that a try first before you launch a revolution. (Most revolutions fail and most revolutionaries are remembered unfavorably.) Claire (on Outlander) should have told the priest something like this: "You know that Satan sets traps around the old ruins to ensnare souls. This leaf is part of the trap; it made the boy sick enough that a demon could get inside him. If you let me cure the damage the leaf did with this elixir, you will have an easier time of removing the demon while the boy is still alive." That would have been win-win-win. The priest (who knew the kid was going to die) gets to claim he saved him. The boy lives. And you now have a priest who will ask for your help not reject you as a person.
6. Never get into a battle with a pig. The pig enjoys the mud, and enjoys getting you dirty.
7. I came across a Polish proverb the other day that made me laugh. "When someone tries to involve you in their drama just say 'This is not my circus; those are not my monkeys,' and move on."
8. If you find something offensive, maybe you should go looking for it less often?
9. Scientists told us not to freak out about Ebola and we did anyway. But then, when they told us to freak out about global warming we just laughed at them.
10. Fifty years ago, my Boy Scout Handbook included this story: Two boys were walking down the forest road. Upon reaching the camp, Bill noticed that Fred's boots were fairly clean while his own boots were muddy. Bill asked why, and Fred said "I look where the mud is and put my feet somewhere else." The point of the story (in the handbook) was to not go places or do things that were going to be "muddy."
posted by Federation Commander at 2:31 AM
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