Today’s The Day

We are off to Titusville this morning for the cataract surgery on Terry’s right eye. She is both nervous and, at the same time, anxious to have improved vision. Then we go back tomorrow for a post-op exam. And two weeks from now, they will repeat the procedure on her left eye.

I was watching some news program about the mid-term elections yesterday and they had several “experts” sharing their input about the primary races around the country, and what exit polls suggested might be the outcome. Whether it’s politics or sports, none of the networks seem to believe we can understand what we are seeing, so then they bring in the talking heads to explain what we just saw and heard. Yeah, experts. I’m so impressed

Of course the experts don’t always agree, in which case, which expert do you believe? I remember sitting in a courtroom during a criminal trial once and the prosecution’s “expert” had a dozen reasons why the accused had to be the guilty party. The defense had their own expert saying that was all hogwash and giving his arguments for why the defendant was innocent. Again, which expert do you believe?

This is an old story that I think tells you all you need to know about experts and their opinions:

The Man Who Sold Hot Dogs

There once was a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing, so he didn’t have a radio. He had trouble with his eyes, so he didn’t read newspapers or watch television. But he sold good hot dogs.

He put up signs on the highway telling people how good they were. He stood on the side of the road and called – “Buy a hot dog, mister? And the people stopped and bought his hot dogs. And they were so good that the people came back to buy them again and again.

The man increased his meat and bun orders to meet the demand for his hot dogs and bought a bigger stove to make more of them. And the money rolled in, and he was successful. Then his son came home from college to help him out, but something happened.

His son said, “Father, haven’t you been listening to the radio? Don’t you read the newspaper or watch television? There’s a big depression going on all over the world? The situation in European is terrible, and it’s even worse here at home. You need to cut your overhead before you go broke!”

The father thought, “My son  has been to college, he reads the papers, and he listens to the radio and watches television, so he ought to know.” So the father cut down on his meat and bun orders, took down his advertising signs, and no longer bothered to stand out on the highway to sell his hot dogs. And his hot dog sales fell almost overnight. “You were right, son,” the father said to the boy. “We certainly are in the middle of a great depression.”

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Stop breaking yourself down into bite-sized pieces to serve others. Stay whole and let them choke.