April 15, 2008

The Teacher Says...

on't be led by what you are told.

Don't be led by whatever has been handed down by past generations.

Don't be led by hearsay or common opinion.

Don't be led by what the scriptures say.

Don't be led by mere logic, deduction or inference.

Don't be led by considering only outward appearance.

Don't be led by preconceived notions.

Don't be led by what seems acceptable or believable.

Don't be led by what your teacher tells you is so...

Posted by witnit at 10:08 AM | Comments (1)

January 20, 2008

Why Men Don't Ask For Directions

omething I posted a couple of years ago. Thought it time to repost:

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Well, some men ask for directions (not that I've met any).

There is actually a very good and very sophisticated explanation for this fact of male-psyche life.

It's because men are lines and women are circles.

You see, men have a natural orientation to the external, to explore, to pioneer, to manipulate the environment, to play with things, to engage in sports, to talk about politics and football and computers and their entertainment centers and to build complex machines that hurtle other men (and grudgingly women, but only if they don't act girly) into outer space. The line.

Women have a natural orientation to the internal, to nest, to make a home, to talk about their inner feelings, their relationships, what they think about everything, how others perceive them, what people must be thinking. The circle.

Men are comfortable with discovery and problem solving and taking something apart to see how it works and operating complicated remote controls on tons of electronic equipment and not talking about inner things like Why don't you ask for directions. They like the complexity of the external world. They hate the complexity of the internal world. They want the internal world to be simple. Yes, no, right, wrong, let's do this and get on with it.

Women are comfortable with security and knowing that things are in their place and keeping the external world simple, with only a single remote that has one power button, one volume button and one channel changer. They want the external world to be simple. They love the complexity of the inner world. The possible meanings, the subtexts, the implications, the dreams. Men hate that kind of stuff.

So why don't men ask for directions? Cause they like figuring out the external world on their own, they are solving it like a complex time-space problem, thinking about the GPS possibilities and the spatial relations of this street to that highway, and they will only ask directions if they are badgered into it by someone who wants to keep that external world as simple as a remote with three buttons.

Men love having four remotes with 100+ buttons. It's something to figure out and tinker with.

Not that there are many men who could explain it that way... Men are rarely skilled at explaining their own psyches. We hate that kind of stuff...And don't make me say it again!!!

Posted by witnit at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)

July 3, 2007

Why I Still Listen to Rush

ecause of callers like this and how Rush responds. It's amazing how those who don't listen to him have such a warped and simply wrong view.

Here's some quotes from the transcript:

RUSH: Charles in South Bend, Indiana, welcome to the EIB Network, sir. It's nice to have you with us.

CALLER: Rush, how you doing?

RUSH: Good, sir.

CALLER: Okay, I'm a former Nation of Islam follower to a loyal Rush Limbaugh listener.

RUSH: Wow! That's quite a transition that you've made.

CALLER: Very, very -- and you have been the catalyst behind it, believe me. You just don't know how much you have influenced my life. I was a former high school dropout, I was homeless, and all of a sudden I was angry, and I started listening to you around, I think it was '89. I think you had a call on named Rita X.

RUSH: Oh, yes. Rita X.

CALLER: I started listening to you around that time, and at the time I was going through some things and I wanted some answers, and at the time the Nation of Islam provided easy answers to tough questions, the questions that I really didn't want to look at in my life. But listening to you, I pretty much faced those questions in my life head on, and my life has been an improvement since. I've dug a big hole for myself, but I've finally gotten out of the hole.

RUSH: You know what? We all dig holes for ourselves, and sometimes we fall into them, but there's nothing greater than getting out of the hole.

CALLER: That's right! That's right.

RUSH: It's a great sense of achievement, and you did it yourself, it sounds like. That's great. That's terrific news.

CALLER: Yes. I also wanted to let you know, years ago you had a commercial, and I wanted to save up money to buy this program, this thing you had called Verbal Advantage.

RUSH: Oh, yeah.

CALLER: I remember I started listening to you, and I started writing down the words that you would say and going through the dictionary and actually expanding it, trying to expand my vocabulary, and voila! Sooner than I thought, I found out that I really didn't need the Verbal Advantage, and you were the Verbal Advantage!

RUSH: (laughs) Well, you're overwhelming me here. I don't know what to say. Thank you.

CALLER: I just want to tell you that you just don't know how much you've been an influence in my life. I mean, me being a black American and me telling people that I listen to Rush Limbaugh, I get all kind of crazy looks and, you know, "What's wrong with this man?" but, Rush, I listen to what you say. I don't hear you. Most black Americans just hear you, and they don't listen. You know, that's the difference. People hear you, but they don't really listen.

[...]

RUSH: Let me ask you, Charles. Let me ask you one more question before we have to go here -- and I'm going to have to go here pretty quick because of time. I appreciate your thanking me and saying that this program was the catalyst, but you do understand, don't you, that you did this?

CALLER: That's right! Yeah. I know.

RUSH: Okay. So don't be afraid to credit yourself is the point.

CALLER: Oh, yeah, I do.

RUSH: It's not bragging and it's not being selfish. It's none of those things. It's not ill-mannered -- and I'm not talking about walking around and, you know, carrying a placard around the street, "I did this!" But to yourself, when you talk to yourself, be honest with yourself. You did what you did.

CALLER: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I remind myself of that every day. I remind myself of that every day, and a lot of people look at what I do as being conceited and being self-assured.

RUSH: You're not just conceited. You're just confident, and people that are not confident, not sure of themselves are really put off by people who are. They don't think anybody should be that sure of themselves. It makes them nervous. They lash out and blame you for having a bad attitude or an arrogant attitude, when it's their own insecurities here that are causing it. Don't let that change who you are.

Posted by witnit at 9:28 AM | Comments (1)

January 5, 2007

The Secret of Happiness

very day that I wake up to discover that I haven't been murdered, I know it's going to be a good day.

The secret of happiness is to have low standards for happiness!

Posted by witnit at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2006

Four Questions Before Marrying

So, if you get to the point where you are considering marrying ask yourself these four questions, and if you can say YES to all four, then you may be going into a healthy marriage:

1. Is it okay with you if this person stays just as they are the rest of his or her life?

2. Would you like to become more like this person?

3. If you were inclined to have a child, would you want to have a child with this person?

4. Would you like that child to grow up to be just like this person?

Simple enough. And very revealing if you can't say YES. A couple years ago a daughter of a friend had her fiance call off their wedding a couple weeks before. They were high school sweethearts. A few days later, be begged to have her back. She was having second thoughts. My wife called me to get the four questions, and gave them to the young girl (in her early 20s).

She had to say No to all four. That made her feel better letting him go. (She would have anyway, but would have felt more guilty without knowing the four questions.)

Pass them on.

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