Nov. 28: Bringing a gun to a knife fight
If I brought a gun to a knife fight, I would probably win the fight.
If I knew what I was talking about, I would probably win an argument with an ignoramus. He wouldn't admit it and neither would his confreres, but perhaps an impartial jury would.
We are told that the secret to giving advice is to be thoroughly indifferent whether or not your advice is taken. We know that when someone asks for advice, what they are usually saying is "I have decided on a course of action. Tell me you agree."
-
In the very first James Bond movie, Dr. No, the titular hero is told that he must surrender his trusty Baretta for the more reliable Walther PPK. Bond is reluctant but he accepts the order from his commanding officer. By the end of the movie, the Walther has become a part of the 007 mystique.
I have never held a Walther PPK. I fired a gun once. It was on a skeet shooting range somewhere near Calgary. I fired at a big steel panel and the gun kicked back and left a bruise on my chest. Then my dad drove me home and I never went skeet shooting again.
We tried archery too and a number of other activities and I guess that my dad was trying to find something I could become passionate about. My brother has baseball and my sister had marching band. I had a fledgling interest in magic tricks but I was spending most of my time playing video games and I think this worried my dad.
-
I sometimes wish I came up with idea for note-a-day when I was 12. If I did it continuously, I would, today, have almost 10,000 notes written on a whole cornucopia of subjects. Perhaps some anthologies would have been published by now and it it entirely conceivable that I might be making a living doing it today.
Who among us hasn't wished we could jump in a time machine and go back to age 12 or 14 or 17 and alter our lives with the knowledge that we have now?
We wouldn't make the same mistakes again. But we would make different mistakes and the world would still be as screwed up as it is right now.
-
My son is sleeping in the next room. If I teach him one thing in life, I hope it is that he will get nothing unless he works hard for it.
Robert Ingersoll once said that in the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous. If I may continue the metaphor: mediocrity is a knife and genius is a gun.
So how can one get one's hand on a gun?
Simple.
You sweat.
If I knew what I was talking about, I would probably win an argument with an ignoramus. He wouldn't admit it and neither would his confreres, but perhaps an impartial jury would.
We are told that the secret to giving advice is to be thoroughly indifferent whether or not your advice is taken. We know that when someone asks for advice, what they are usually saying is "I have decided on a course of action. Tell me you agree."
-
In the very first James Bond movie, Dr. No, the titular hero is told that he must surrender his trusty Baretta for the more reliable Walther PPK. Bond is reluctant but he accepts the order from his commanding officer. By the end of the movie, the Walther has become a part of the 007 mystique.
I have never held a Walther PPK. I fired a gun once. It was on a skeet shooting range somewhere near Calgary. I fired at a big steel panel and the gun kicked back and left a bruise on my chest. Then my dad drove me home and I never went skeet shooting again.
We tried archery too and a number of other activities and I guess that my dad was trying to find something I could become passionate about. My brother has baseball and my sister had marching band. I had a fledgling interest in magic tricks but I was spending most of my time playing video games and I think this worried my dad.
-
I sometimes wish I came up with idea for note-a-day when I was 12. If I did it continuously, I would, today, have almost 10,000 notes written on a whole cornucopia of subjects. Perhaps some anthologies would have been published by now and it it entirely conceivable that I might be making a living doing it today.
Who among us hasn't wished we could jump in a time machine and go back to age 12 or 14 or 17 and alter our lives with the knowledge that we have now?
We wouldn't make the same mistakes again. But we would make different mistakes and the world would still be as screwed up as it is right now.
-
My son is sleeping in the next room. If I teach him one thing in life, I hope it is that he will get nothing unless he works hard for it.
Robert Ingersoll once said that in the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous. If I may continue the metaphor: mediocrity is a knife and genius is a gun.
So how can one get one's hand on a gun?
Simple.
You sweat.
Comments
Post a Comment