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WITandWISDOM(tm) - December 6, 2004 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Every once in a while, take the scenic route. - H. Jackson Brown, Jr. , "Life's Little Instruction Book" Source: DailyInBox Presents, http://dailyinbox.com ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Pat Dyer must not be too bad a high school football coach. He is the head coach for Macon County High School. His MCHS team was a Class 3A state semifinalist last year. He was selected to coach the defensive secondary in the Tennessee East/West All-Star game this year. As he pointed out at the time, being selected to help coach an all-star team is a "big honor." This hasn't been one of Coach Dyer's best seasons. His MCHS Tigers didn't make the playoffs. They didn't even have a winning record for the season. You know how testy that can make diehard sports fans -- at pro or pee wee level. Maybe Coach Dyer didn't do his best job this year. Maybe he made some bad personnel decisions. Maybe he called some bonehead plays. Criticize him for those things if you are a Tigers fan, but not for his priorities. Dyer missed two games his team played this year -- on Week 7 and Week 10 of the schedule -- for the sake of his son. Matt Dyer is a high school senior at Smith County High School. He is a fullback for that school's football team. And he is working through those once-in-a-lifetime events that go with being a senior. Coach Dyer didn't skip his own team's games to see his son play football for the past three years. He didn't send his team onto the field without their head coach to see Matt's senior games. But he did elect to be there for his son's Homecoming and Senior Night games. He put being a father over being a coach. Oh, he didn't just fail to show up. He agonized over the conflict. He talked with his principal. "Coach Dyer came to me and talked to me about it before the season," said Principal Cindy Gammons. "I had no problem with it. I told him that's what he should do, and he didn't need to be anywhere else." An angry contingent of MCHS parents has come down hard on the coach. They started calling school board members to tell them what should happen to him. They are parents! And they want their kids put first! On two nights over four seasons of high school sports, Pat Dyer put his son first. "It was a tough call as a coach. It was an easy call as a father," sportswriter Jeff Lockridge said of the flap. "When a player's name is announced over the speakers and he walks to midfield on Senior Night, his dad belongs by his side." Coach, most of your team and its fans likely admire your decision. The ones who don't will get over it. But Matt will never forget the choice you made because you love him. Thanks for reminding the rest of us to get our priorities right. Rubel Shelly whcoc@edge.net Write Rubel and let him know what you thought of his story! (c) 2004 Rubel Shelly To read more of Rubel's writing or to sign up for his weekly column: FAX of Life Visit: http://www.faithmatters.com Rubel Shelly has preached for the Woodmont Hills Church of Christ in Nashville since 1978. During that time, he has also taught at David Lipscomb University and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He is the author of more than 20 books, including several which have been translated into languages such as Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Russian. He is married to the former Myra Shappley, and they are the parents of three children: Mrs. David (Michelle) Arms, Tim, and Tom. Source: Heart Touchers, http://www.hearttouchers.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Bad Conclusions IGNORING THE ADVICE OF EXPERTS WITHOUT GOOD REASON: Example: Sure, the experts say you shouldn't ride a bicycle in the eye of a hurricane, but I have my own theory. FOLLOWING THE ADVICE OF KNOWN Oddball: Example: Uncle Horace says eating pork makes you smarter. That's good enough for me. REACHING BIZARRE CONCLUSIONS WITHOUT ANY INFORMATION: Example: My car won't start. I'm certain the spark plugs have been stolen by rogue clowns. FAULTY PATTERN RECOGNITION: Example: His last six wives were murdered mysteriously. I hope to be wife number seven. FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE WHAT'S IMPORTANT: Example: My house is on fire! Quick, call the post office and tell them to hold my mail! CONCLUDING THAT THE SIMPLEST EXPLANATION MUST BE CORRECT: Example: The simplest explanation for the moon landings is that they were hoaxes. (maybe?) INABILITY TO UNDERSTAND THAT SOME THINGS HAVE MULTIPLE CAUSES: Example: The Beatles were popular for one reason only: they were good singers. PROOF BY LACK OF EVIDENCE: Example: I've never seen you drunk, so you must be one of those Amish people. BLINDING FLASHES OF THE OBVIOUS: Example: If everyone had more money, we could eliminate poverty. BLAMING THE TOOL: Example: I bought an encyclopedia, but I'm still not intelligent. TAKING THINGS TO THEIR ILLOGICAL CONCLUSION: Example: If you let your barber cut your hair, the next thing you know he'll be lopping your limbs off. JUDGING THE WHOLE BY ONE OF ITS CHARACTERISTICS: Example: The sun causes sunburns. Therefore, the planet would be better off without the sun. Source: Quotes of the Day, mailto:rheamo@centurytel.net?subject=Subscribe_Quotes_of_the_Day ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: A woman at our interactive advertising agency had recently returned from her maternity leave when she sent the following e- mail: "Whoever used the milk in the small plastic container that was in the refrigerator yesterday, please do NOT own up to it. I would find it forever after difficult to meet your gaze across a cafeteria table whilst having a discussion about java applets or brand identity. Just be aware that that milk was EXPRESSLY for my son if you get my drift. I will label these things from now on, but if you found your coffee tasted just a little bit unusual this morning, you might think about calling your mom and telling her you love her." Source: Top Greetings ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Find a file, any file I'm sure you know how frustrating it is to hunt a file on your computer. You open up folder after folder, hoping it is there. Just last week, I had to search for an important file. It took ages to find. The Windows search function has always been a sore point of mine. Hopefully, this problem has been solved with Google's new and free Desktop Search tool. I have been using it for some time, and it is very cool. Once installed, it indexes the files on your computer. Then, you can use it to search your e-mail, along with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and text files. After downloading, the free program can take several hours to index your computer. So you can't use it immediately. But once the indexing is done, you will love this new way of finding what you need on your computer. Note: Google Desktop Search works only with Windows XP or Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or later. It will use about 500 megabytes of hard drive space. TO GET IT, GO HERE: http://desktop.google.com/ Copyright 2004, The Kim Komando Show. All rights reserved. Kim Komando's Cool Site of the Day http://www.komando.com/newsletter.asp |