Did you hear about the man who attempted sky-diving for the first time? His
parachute didn't open. Then his auxiliary chute failed. Now he found himself in
free fall with no more options.
Then a strange thing happened. He spotted something coming up TOWARDS him from
the ground at a high rate of speed. It was a man! When he was sure they would
pass one another without a collision, he shouted down to the figure, "Do you
know anything about parachutes?"
"No!" The man called back. "Do you know anything about gas stoves?"
A little bit of technological knowledge could have been helpful in both cases.
But it has never just been about how much we KNOW. I read that the world's body
of knowledge doubled from 1900 to 1950. In other words, knowledge that took
thousands of years to accumulate doubled in only fifty years. It then doubled
again between 1950 and 1965. In just fifteen years. It is estimated that the
world's body of knowledge doubled once more between 1965 and 1970, and now
doubles every five years. Amazing! We can never keep up with all there is to
learn.
But perhaps more important than how much any of us KNOWS is how consistently we
ACT on whatever knowledge we have. We certainly need enough knowledge to live
fruitful and constructive lives, but even knowledge will not serve well if we
neglect to use it. You may know that material things don't bring lasting
happiness. Will you actively pursue things of the heart and spirit?
You may know peace comes when you forgive. Will you decide to put down that
grudge and leave it behind?
You may know that any decision made from fear alone is likely to be wrong. Will
you choose the path of courage, even if that path seems hard to navigate?
Most of us know important principles about effective living. But in the end,
what we know to be true is of no consequence -- the decisions we make are
everything. And if we apply well even the little we know, we can be healthy,
happy and hopeful.
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please
authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances
dictate.
Thanks to Life Support
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