Saturday, October 31, 2009

Note to Galen

I just finished reading your blog, Galen. I don't know how difficult it is to find the book you mentioned, the title of which is Know Your Limits -- Then Ignore Them by John Mason. I will be happy to mail you my copy. Just let me know.

The book is a collection of 101 nuggets (of wisdom?). Nugget number 47 is "You Can't Get Ahead When You Are Trying to Get Even."
"Never cut what can be untied" (Joseph Joubert). When you have been wronged, a poor memory is your best response. Never carry a grudge. While you are straining under its weight, the person you are mad at is out producing.

Forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them more. There is no revenge as sweet as forgivness. The only people you should try to get even with are those who have helped you.

"Forgivness ought to be like a cancelled note -- torn in two, and burned up, so that it can never be shown against one" (Henry Ward Beecher). One of the greatest strengths you can show is when you forego revenge and dare to forgive an injury.

"He who cannot forgive, destroys the bridge over which he may one day need to pass," said Larry Bielat. The one guarantee for limiting your potential is unforgiveness. Hate, bitterness, and revenge are luxuries you cannot afford.

People need loving most when they deserve it least. Forgiveness heals; unforgiveness wounds. When we think about our offense, trouble grows; when we forgive, trouble goes.

That's about half of that essay. Titles of some of the others are: If You Are Only Looking Out For Yourself, Look Out!, The Most Dangerous Place To Be Is In the Middle of the Road, Climb Out of the Grandstand and Onto the Playing Field, and Unless You Enter the Beehive, You Can't Take the Honey.

The book was published here in Tulsa by Insight Publishing Group, which tells me it might be hard to find in California. I picked it up for fifty cents at a book sale at my local library. If you would like to have it, just let me know.

Today was Halloween. We had fewer trick-or-treaters than in years past. I noticed that some area churches had organized alternative events. That may have kept a large number of kids from being out on the streets.

I'm still trying to decide between a Kindle and a Nook. Each has some advantages the other lacks.

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