Sometimes you just have to pay respect to your own simpleness.
Sean Paul
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I don't need to read the instructions. I know how to put this barbeque together.
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Okay, hand me the instructions.
I don't need to ask directions. I can find my way.
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Okay. I'm lost.
No, I don't need gloves. It'll only take me a few minutes to shovel the snow off the walk.
------------------
Okay, where are those gloves.
I quit smoking. That was my last cigarette.
---------------------------------
All right, I lied.
It takes some people a long timer to learn that sometimes it's okay to be a simple minded fool if you are facing a problem you don't understand. There's a Chinese proverb that reads "He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."
I must confess I was one of those who refused to ask. The habit developed in my childhood when the answer to almost every questions I asked was prefaced by "You don't know that? What's the matter with you? Where have you been?" It made me wary of asking questions. So I got lost and made a mess with the barbeque.
One should treat genuine simpletons with patience and compassion. But what's wrong with appearing to be a simpleton in someone else's eyes if it means finding out what you need to know? Nothing.
I know a well educated man who says there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
I finally learned my lesson by observing other people and how they deal with things. Now if I ask a question and am treated with scorn because I ask it, I smile patiently and wait for the answer, and if I don't get it I'll ask someone else. And, what's even more important, if someone asks me what I consider a foolish question I give an honest answer.
I may risk losing a chance for a little humor, but it's worth it to help make a peaceful world.
DB - The Vagabond
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AUTUMN QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?
4 responses so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
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Showing posts with label Chinese proverb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese proverb. Show all posts
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Careful Calculation 11/16/08
Never was good work done without much trouble.
Chinese proverb
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This is a Chinese version of Murphy's Law "If anything can go wrong. it will."
Too many people think expecting the worst and planning for it is dark and pessimistic. My mother was not known for having much wisdom, but one of the wisest things I ever heard was from her when she told me that when I was driving to always expect the other driver was going to do something foolish. That advice has saved me a lot of trouble and maybe even my life. If more people practiced that caution there would be a lot less road rage, I bet.
One of the most important work ever done in the history of the world was the establishment of the United States of America. From standing up to and defying our government, to finally beating them and throwing them out, was ablaze with troubles.
We didn't have the manpower to fight the well trained, well disciplined British Army. The money was not coming from the colonies to pay the troops or supply them properly. The politicians were all arguing with each other over what to do. Some of them wanted to stay in the British Empire. Others were putting their lives on the line to be independent. There were so many times we almost lost; so many times we almost gave up. There was nothing easy about it and no lack of trouble.
George Washington knew what serious trouble was first hand, starving troops, men dying of wounds, or abandoning him. And yet he went ahead and won. If he had lost he would probably have been taken back to London and died a traitor's death, being tortured to death in a public square.
Even after we won some of the conservative colonists wanted to make him king. And that would have put us right back where we started from. Fortunately Washington refused. He was a smart man.
We have our country today because he and others were willing to put up with the trouble and to get the job done. Thank you.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Chinese proverb
******************************
This is a Chinese version of Murphy's Law "If anything can go wrong. it will."
Too many people think expecting the worst and planning for it is dark and pessimistic. My mother was not known for having much wisdom, but one of the wisest things I ever heard was from her when she told me that when I was driving to always expect the other driver was going to do something foolish. That advice has saved me a lot of trouble and maybe even my life. If more people practiced that caution there would be a lot less road rage, I bet.
One of the most important work ever done in the history of the world was the establishment of the United States of America. From standing up to and defying our government, to finally beating them and throwing them out, was ablaze with troubles.
We didn't have the manpower to fight the well trained, well disciplined British Army. The money was not coming from the colonies to pay the troops or supply them properly. The politicians were all arguing with each other over what to do. Some of them wanted to stay in the British Empire. Others were putting their lives on the line to be independent. There were so many times we almost lost; so many times we almost gave up. There was nothing easy about it and no lack of trouble.
George Washington knew what serious trouble was first hand, starving troops, men dying of wounds, or abandoning him. And yet he went ahead and won. If he had lost he would probably have been taken back to London and died a traitor's death, being tortured to death in a public square.
Even after we won some of the conservative colonists wanted to make him king. And that would have put us right back where we started from. Fortunately Washington refused. He was a smart man.
We have our country today because he and others were willing to put up with the trouble and to get the job done. Thank you.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
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