Famous Last Words

A friend of mine sent me a short collection of "Famous Quotes". You know, the ones that show just how insightful some people can't be. Below are posted a few of them:

"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances."
Dr.. Lee DeForest
"Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television."

"The bomb will never go off.  I speak as an expert in explosives."
Admiral William Leahy =2C US Atomic Bomb Project=20

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom."
Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
Bill Gates, 1981

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered
as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
Western Union internal memo

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay
for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the
radio in the 1920s.

"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and
not Gary Cooper."
Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in
"Gone With The Wind.

There are many other such quotes I could list, but you get the idea.  As I
was reading these quotes, I started wondering what I have said that showed
my lack of insight.  Then I started thinking about the things others have
said to me that showed a lack of insight.

One such example of the latter happened at the beginning of this past
school year.  As a new teacher on the block, I was given a lot of
advice from some of my new colleagues.  Much of this advice was,
naturally, about the students I would be having in the upcoming year.
One student in particular was going to give me trouble I was informed.
I listened to all the negatives my new colleagues gave me (it was quite a bit too).
True, the student being talked about - I'll call him Ralph to protect his real
identity - had some rough edges.  Yet, they edges were no where near as
bad as I was lead to expect.  In fact, Ralph was one of my hardest
working students, and one of the most supportive students I have ever encountered.

Ralph not only worked hard in my class, but also in the classes of my
co-middle school teacher.  He was fun to be around.  He is the student I miss
the most when there was no school.  He really grew throughout the year
because he made the choice to do so.

What would have happened if I had fully believed what my colleagues had said?
Would I have been as open to Ralph's quirkinesses?  Would I have been able to
see past them to truly help him grow as as much as he did?  I doubt it.
Like the quotes I started with, I sometimes say things that show how much I
lack vision or hope.  While you are laughing at this, remember this:  I know
I am not alone this habit.  Everyone says things that show how blind we are
to the possibilities that surround us, and show how little we believe
in the potential of people to change.  Everyone that is, except Jesus.

When Jesus spoke, He did so each time with meaning, insight, love, caring, and hope.
He saw each person as they were - sinners in need of a Savior. He did not ignore
the wrongs in a person's life or attitude.  He called a spade a spade.
Yet, neither did He show a lack of vision or even stupidity in what He said.
He thought before He spoke.  He took a moment to think, and I believe even
pray, about what was going to come out of His mouth before He opened it.

Isn't that what we are supposed to be doing too?  Yes, we will make wrong
choices and say dumb things. We can't help it - we are too human to do
otherwise.  (Anyone in a relationship, especially married men, will say how
true this is.) Yet, if we but take the time to think, and even pray, about
what we say before we say it, we have a good chance of not looking so foolish.
We might even look like intelligent people; maybe even visionaries.

I wonder what our lives, our world, would be like if we did that?

Keith B.