Lessons on Life
June 2005 The Shoreline Page 19
By Dick Reeves
Each year, we spend millions
on books on life and living and
other examples of wit and wisdom.
I can save you a great deal of time
and money by distilling all of them
to their essence. As follows:
Life and living
Do good. Avoid evil. Treat
thy neighbor as thyself
Diet
Eat less. Exercise more
Sunday Services
If you pray for your neigh
bor, don’t run him over in the
parking lot on the way out.
Competence
We license everything from
dog catchers to hairdressers,
yet for the most important
job in the world, raising chil
dren, there are no require
ments, no standards and no
checks and balances.
Education
Nobody teaches anything. The
good “teachers” make us want to
learn. The bad ones bore us to
indifference.
God
Our planet has been spinning for
2-3 billion years. In the last “in
stant” man arrived. Did God cre
ate him or did he create God?
And what was God doing for a
few billion years?
Children
Wonderful from birth to 3 years.
Forget everything else until they
produce grandchildren.
War
Men have been killing each other
since Cain slew Abel. Wars will
never end until there are no more
men to kill.
Politics
“Power is the ultimate aphrodi
siac.” I think Churchill said that.
Persuasion
You can persuade anybody to do
anything. A gun speeds the pro
cess. A1 Capone said that.
Judging
Don’t judge any man until you
have spent a day in his mocca
sins. American Indians said that.
Greed
Give a man a million and he’ll
want two. Give him a billion and
he’ll want three.
Democracy
We elect extensions of ourselves.
“The fault, dear Brutus...”
Intelligence
You can measure a man’s intelli
gence and a lot more by the tele
vision he watches.
The United States
If you want to know where we
will be in a decade, look at Eu
rope today. Or read “The De
cline and fall of the Roman Em
pire,”
Hypocrisy
I don’t trust anyone who says
“God bless America.” Does not
God bless and love all men? Es
pecially the most unloved?
And the best one of all...
God grant me the wisdom to
change those things I can change,
to accept what I cannot, and the
serenity to know the difference.
(Author unknown)
These are just a few random thoughts.
If you have others, send them to the
Shoreline. If you have complaints, I
don’t want to hear them
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