“Ideas won’t keep…” #52

When something bad happens to us, we can see it as a major disaster that will affect us forever. Or we can look at it as a disappointment that we will find a way around.

Mike Todd, the movie producer, said it this way:

I’ve never been poor, only broke. Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation.

Think of circumstances in your life that can be viewed in two ways-overweight, a broken friendship, a low grade. Write about three or four of them, using the above quote as a model.

“Ideas won’t keep…” #55

Patience is the art of doing something else in the meantime.

-Anonymous

Patience is out of place in the quicksand.

-Dagobert D. Runes

How can we know if a situation calls for patience or action?

Describe an incident from your life that involved patience. Or explain one of the quotations, using some specific examples.

“Ideas won’t keep…” #56

It goes againest common sense to have so much stuff, have it for a second, then throw it away.

-Patricia Poore, editor and publisher of Garbage magazine

Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things for which you would not take money.

-Anonymous

Shopping is the favorite hobby of many Americans. Much of what what they buy is disposable or can’t be repaired or is designed to wear out soon.

Imagine what life would be like if we had fewer material things. Fewer clothes. Fewer cars. Fewer televisions and tape players and telephones. Fewer choices of brands to buy. How would life be different? Would it be richer in some ways?

“Ideas won’t keep…” #59

Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.

-Edwards R. Murrow

For every complex question there is a simple solution: neat, plausible, and wrong.

-H. L. Mencken

Sometimes slogans are just plain wrong. Other times, they make a difficult problem sound too easy.

An example is the “Just say No” campaign to combat drug use. In many situations, just saying “no” may not be enough. Kids need to learn why they should refuse drugs, what they should say, and how they can avoid drug-using friends.

Write about some slogans or simple solutions that are wrong or just don’t go far enough.

“Ideas won’t keep…” #60

You should not have your own idea when you listen to someone… To have nothing on your mind is naturalness. Then you will understand what he says.

-Shunryu Suzuki

Usually what we say is not of earth-shaking importance. But sometimes we really want to tell someone something-really want that person to hear what we are saying.

Do you know someone who listens to you with all his or her heart? And someone who pays so little attention that you slip in ‘little green men” or “worms for breakfast” just to see if he or she is really listening?

Write about listening. Write about a time you were gratified or disappointed or angry. Or a time you were the listener.