"Fool Me Twice, Shame on ME!"
Welcome to the Holbrook New Media Audio Feed. We do Audio, Video, Content Creation, and That Other Stuff. holbrooknewmedia.com
This is Jeffrey K. Holbrook. Work schedules can be chaotic in December when you work for the U.S. Postal Service. Because of this, Geoff Blanchard and I were not able to get together for the weekly Geoff and Jeffrey Show. Instead, as a nod to my original podcast, Daggers Of The Mind, I am taking a quote from a famous person, and giving a few thoughts I had on the subject.
Today's quote is from Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, The second President of the United States.
"We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them."
As we go out into the world every day we expect to encounter others and we expect to be talking to them. These days with all the connectivity and social media, Even retired or handicapped persons who spend most of their time at home have a lot of conversations. We know we will be talking today, but what will we actually DO?
Many of us seem to spend a lot of time trying to impress others with what we say. This goes all the way from the highest politicians to the guy who only uses heavy profanity when playing card games with his buddies.
The political aim is to sell the voters on you as a candidate. You need to convince them to vote for you instead of someone else who is spouting just as much jargon as you are. Many candidates are totally successful simply because they can speak so "high sounding" that you forget or don't even try to discover what they have actually done, and instead listen to how great they say they are. That is the essence of a sales job. Instead of sleight of hand, it is sleight of mouth.
It's a diversion of the sort that makes sure you don't pay any attention to the flaws and faults that are inherent in every political position.
By the way, we know there are flaws in EVERY political philosophy simply because every candidate who ever made it into office has promised to basically "fix it all". We can all attest to the idea that this has never happened. Not even once. Ok, so much for believing political talk.
Now, what about the guy who has a great vocabulary until he is spending time with his poker buddies? What is his motivation to impress?
Since 4 words out of every ten probably start with the letter "F", this really can't be to illustrate his amazing command of the English language. He does much better when he is at the office, where he is trying to impress on his superiors that he is a completely different kind of person.
This is the reason we really can't go with anything anybody says anywhere that is not backed up by the deeds they do and the life they live. The old saying that "talk is cheap" is totally true, but at the same time, if you take someone at their word that has lived a life contrary to what they are saying, another saying comes into play. I heard Scotty on the original Star Trek series say this. "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!"
Be ever vigilant and do your homework. Don't believe what is being said simply because it is a comfortable concept that is something you would really LIKE to hear. Be willing to listen to unpleasant truths that are actually the literal truth. The proof is in the walk of the person who is doing the speaking.
On the flip side, always make sure you are acting in accordance with what you say. Actually, you will act naturally in unguarded moments, so it is better said that you should say what you really mean. Actual truth. These days, it is considered relative to the situation, and many believe that this moment's "truth" is anything that gets them what they want now.
When someone lies to you, even once, how could you ever trust them again? How could anyone ever trust YOU again? It has long been a goal of mine to be considered one of the truly honest people in a world that is chock full of liars. How will you be remembered? Your legacy is more important than you think.
A final quote from St. Francis of Assisi:
"It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to receive notifications of new episodes in your email, go to http://holbrooknewmedia.com. On the right side of the page there is a place to subscribe to the blog.
We hope you enjoy the show!
Geoff Blanchard's Web Site: http://geoffblanchard.com
All Things Jeffrey K. Holbrook: http://holbrooknewmedia.com
A special thanks for Brother Jon at the Remnant Bible Fellowship Podcast for composing and performing the theme music for the audio version of the show. http://remnantbiblefellowship.libsyn.com
Affiliate links cost you nothing extra, but help support The Geoff & Jeffrey Show! http://holbrooknewmedia.com/amazon
If you are wondering about starting your own podcast, go to http://podcastcurious.com
Download this episode!
