Dad's Column

Slaying Sayings
A lot of old sayings just aren’t true. “I’ll see you later if
the good Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise.” That makes no
sense. If the good Lord is willing, high water won’t be a problem.
He parted the Red Sea! Don’t bring the Creator of water down to
creek level.
“What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” Wrong! Not knowing
the gun was loaded or the wire was hot can kill you. Ignorance
is not always bliss.
“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words can never
hurt me.” Words can kill and destroy folks. People with hypochondriac
tendencies will go to the doctor if they’re told “You look terrible! Are
you sick?”
Children need to be told “they can” do things. An uncle said
that I’d “never amount to anything”. But Mom had already built up my
immunity to negative thinking. “Two heads are better than one.” That depends on the content of
the heads. “Wisdom comes with age.” This is definitely not an
absolute. Old dummies abound all around.
“Is the glass half-full or half empty?” The answer is simple. The
glass is too big. The top half the glass is just wasted space. “No two
snowflakes are alike.” I contend that there were two just alike. They
had no way of analyzing them all.
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” That depends on the basket.
I’m convinced that God has a strong basket that will hold all my laid-up
treasures. Being in His basket keeps me from being a basket case.
If you still think I am a basket case, then I’d contend that you might have
problems also. You read this, didn’t you? Ever wonder why?