Scattered Paper
Nearly 10 years ago, before I had even considered the idea of becoming a public speaker, I had the opportunity to do some work down in Cape Town S. Africa. From all those years ago I still stay in touch with a remarkable young lady named Anthea Flink who recently sent me this wonderful piece that I now share with you. It’s called “Scatterd Paper”
Thank you Anthea!
Once upon a time an old man spread rumors that his neighbor was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was proven innocent. After been released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him.
In court the old man told the Judge: “They were just comments, didn’t harm anyone.”
The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the old man:Â “Write all the things you said about him in a piece of paper. Cut them up and on the way home, throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear the sentence.”
Next day, the judge told the old man: “Before receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday.”
The old man said: “I can’t do that! The wind spread them and I won’t know where to find them.”
The judge then replied: “The same way, simple comments may destroy the honor of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it. If you can’t speak well of someone, rather don’t say anything.
“Let’s all be masters of our mouths, so that we won’t be slaves of our words. ”
If only we could eat our words but once they leave our mouths they so often seem to breath, breed and take on a life of their own. Truly words are living things… they create the realities of our lives and can forever impact the lives of others.
Word Out : ) Kirk
April 16th, 2009 at 7:29 am
“Some people mistakenly think responses such as silence, meekness, forgiveness, and bearing humble testimony are passive or weak. But to ‘love [our] enemies, bless them that curse [us], do good to them that hate [us], and pray for them which despitefully use [us], and persecute [us]’ (Matthew 5:44) takes faith, strength, and, most of all, Christian courage. . . .”When we do not retaliate—when we turn the other cheek and resist feelings of anger—we too stand with the Savior. We show forth His love, which is the only power that can subdue the adversary and answer our accusers without accusing them in return. That is not weakness. That is Christian courage.”
Robert D. Hales, “Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship,” Ensign, Nov. 2008, 72
April 16th, 2009 at 8:05 am
Funny, last night I was telling my kids that a valuable lesson they can learn and practice now while young, which will pay off big over time, is this exact message and/or to change the conversation if someone is saying bad stuff about another. I heard a story on the news where the Mayor of some town was talking trash to his buddy while the two were driving a police car (jeep) in a parade. They decided to turn on the flashers and hit the siren but what they didn’t realize is that this triggered the in-car video camera which picked up their trash talk as they waved and smiled to the crowd. His words hurt others but in this case he hurt himself the most.