Opinions

I walked purposely into the store, looking for packaging tape. It was not stocked with the office supplies, nor with the gift wrap. “Packaging tape,” I said to the clerk. He took me to the four-pack of everyday, gift-wrapping tape. “No, the wide, stronger tape,” I tried to explain. “Like for wrapping a package for mailing…” I added. “Comes on a roll with a dispenser and a serrated little blade for easy use,” said I. Finally, we were within the same universe.

The vast complexity of the human mind has fascinated mankind since the beginning. As our divine book of instruction, the Bible says that as a man or woman thinks, so are they. Since we are the accumulation of our thoughts, we cannot overly stress the importance of believing what is true in order to live in God’s favor. This sounds easy and I guess it could be if we lived in a secluded garden where all there was to do is take care of the landscaping and play with the animals. However, when Satan was allowed access to the garden to tempt and influence humans, they began to reason within their minds and consider possibilities they had never dreamed of before. Once men and women understood good from evil, a new world of choosing and decision-making began and since that time life has been a minefield of heartaches and disappointments.

There Bettylin and I stood in flip-flops and faded denim shorts ‘neath the old apple tree. Paying our last respects.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. But is the old rhyme really true? Can words inflict harm and pain? The ingenuity of man has seen them develop stones, clubs and tools during the stone age that became spears used to bring down mammals. Combining their managing of fire produced brontosaurus burgers. Those instruments were fashioned into weapons that both protected them from predators, sometimes including man.