Gary Crocker’s Blog

“If you haven’t got anything good to say about someone, don’t say anything at all.” (Mother)

“Tis never so, that the louder the voice, the truer the argument.” (Ching Chow, 1968, News Syndicate Co.)
addendum to Ching Chow: Unless the argument is over who is the loudest.

Important truths are often hidden in the minds of people who are afraid to express them.
Important truths are often hidden in the minds of people who are not allowed to express them.

Mark Twain used silence during his lectures for dramatic effect.

Think twice before you speak. It might prevent foot-in-mouth disease.

Don’t be quick to answer dogmatically about things.

“Silence is not always golden. Sometimes it’s yellow.” (author unknown)
– Learn the difference.

The best way to avoid an argument is to preclude it. If appropriate, bring it up it up and answer it first. That will diffuse it, and prevent him from thinking he has caught you off guard.
– “Asked and answered” as would be objected in the courtroom.
– Shows you are aware of the issue and have thought about it.

“…what I have called ‘chronological snobbery,’ the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited. You must find why it went out of date. Was it ever refuted (and if so by whom, where, and how conclusively) or did it merely die away as fashions do? If the latter, this tells us nothing about its truth or falsehood. From seeing this, one passes to the realization that our own age is also ‘a period,’ and certainly has, like all periods, its own characteristic illusions. They are likeliest to lurk in those widespread assumptions which are so ingrained in the age that no one dares to attack or feels it necessary to defend them.”

C.S. Lewis, Surprised By Joy

• “You can’t be optimistic with misty optics.” (Charles Feinberg)
• “You can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd. But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to it.” (Roger Miller)
• “People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” (Abraham Lincoln)
• Behave the way you want to feel. (me)
• “If the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, start watering your own grass.” (Bayless Connelly)

In no particular order
• We don’t live in the world as God created it. (Gary Parker)
• Intellectual honesty is not the enemy of faith – even with respect to the Bible.
• Neither is logic.
• All truth is God’s truth.
• Not everything that happens has someone to blame.
• I don’t have to have an opinion on every issue.
• I don’t have to take a side in every conflict.
• The law of the harvest: We reap what we sow, more than we sow, later than we sow. (Charles Stanley).
• There are usually more ways than one to accomplish a task. The traditional way, or the “way we’ve always done it” may not be the best or most efficient – but not simply because it’s traditional.
• The comfortable or convenient explanation is not always the best explanation.
• Clever words do not in themselves form truth.

I’m neither as smart, nor as dumb as people think I am.

Therefore:
• I shouldn’t think of myself more highly than I ought to think. (Romans 12:3)
• I need to be realistic about what is said and shouldn’t take their praise more seriously than is really warranted.
• I shouldn’t worry about what others think.
• I shouldn’t quickly take offense at criticism since its intent is probably not as serious as I think.
• I should consider the validity of any criticism, and if valid, heed and grow from it.