Good Morning All & Happy National Skyscraper Day (I’ll bet you didn’t know there was a “National Skyscraper Day”!),
Speaking of skyscrapers, what’s your favorite skyscraper? The Transamerica Pyramid will always be a favorite of mine…it’s situated in one of my favorite cities…”the city by the bay”…San Francisco!
Speaking of favorite things (in this case people), here’s to one of my very favorite singers/songwriters, Gloria Estefan, who celebrated her 62nd birthday a couple of days ago. Happy Birthday Gloria and thanks for all the great music over the years with the “Miami Sound Machine”! Happy Birthday wishes also go to my friend Marty, spouse to one of my favorite people, Julie, who celebrates his 51st birthday today. And Happy Birthday to Olympic champion snowboarder Shaun White, who turns 33 today! Happy Birthday to tennis star Dominic Thiem (I got to see him in a tremendous tennis match in Indian Wells a couple of years ago!), who is 26 today! Here’s to all of you!
Have you ever noticed how funny business advertising along city streets can be? Well, yesterday we drove by a Spa & Hot Tub business on North Division in Spokane. It’s located in a rather non-descript building at a busy intersection. It features a a great big sign in front of it proclaiming that it’s “#1 in Hot Tub Sales…#1 in Spa Water Systems…and #1 in a number of other regards. Does #1 mean #1 in the Universe?, #1 in the World?, #1 in the country?, #1 in the state?, #1 in Spokane?, or #1 on that particular street?….or could it be?…#1 at that location??? Too funny!!
Which leads me to the thought for the day…”How Full Can A Plane Be?” by Dr. Scott Rodin…Here are some excerpts:
“It seems our national vocabulary has become saturated with hyperbole. We cannot resist adding adverbs to try to articulate the severity or importance of any statement. To spot an adverb, just look for the -ly ending. So, for instance, my issues aren’t just important anymore, they are vitally important. Other people’s views are entirely wrong. People we disagree with are utterly stupid. You get the idea.
The problem is that most often the adverb is unnecessary and used to the point of silliness. Here is an example:
While sitting in an airport waiting area preparing to board my flight, the gate agent announced over the speaker that, “our plane is full today, so please limit your carry-ons to two pieces.” That made sense. When I hear the word “full” it can have only one meaning…every seat has a backside in it. 76 seats, 76 passengers—full.
Given this understanding of the definition of a simple word like “full”, you can imagine my concern when, a few weeks later in another airport waiting room, I heard the disturbing announcement, “ladies and gentlemen, our flight today is very full.” Very full? Very full? What could this mean? If “full” means every seat is occupied, then very full must mean that people would be sitting in the aisle or standing in the lavatory. I shuddered to think what must await us on a flight that was beyond “full” to “very full”!…
…I though surely that must be the worst. What could be more devastating than a cross country trip on a “completely full” flight? The horror! And then it happened. Just last week as I found my place in the boarding line for yet another flight, we were informed of the most devastating scenario facing a traveler. Her words still haunt me, “Ladies and gentlemen, please be advised that our flight to Seattle today is extremely full.” The mental image boggled the mind. People stacked on top of each other as passengers crammed themselves into every conceivable space. Boarding agents standing on the ramp pushing people in until the last possible person was held in place as the door was shut behind them with a shout, “everybody breathe in on the count of three…”…
…Perhaps this is a byproduct of the desensitization of our culture. As our national dialogue becomes ever more vitriolic, our divisions grow deeper and our anger more easily stirred, we need the exaggeration adverbs provide to express the full extent of our feelings. Used this way, adverbs can help us demonize, patronize and demoralize our opponents. Adding two or three well chosen adverbs transforms someone who is “mistaken” into a more heinous figure who is dangerously, utterly and damnably mistaken.
These adverbs also serve to heighten the intensity of our self-justification and pretense. We are no longer just offended by a comment, we are egregiously, intentionally and unforgivably offended. The adverbs take us beyond the action to labeling the motives.
If you listen for them, you will hear them everywhere, maybe even in your own speech. Perhaps we can take a lesson from our beleaguered airline gate agents and let full be full. A bit less exaggeration may help us bring our national dialogue back into an arena where civility and common grace can once again have the stage.”
—Dr. Scott Rodin, “How Full Can A Plane Be?”, The Steward’s Journey at www.thestewardsjourney.com
Here is the silly question for the day:
Q: What is the difference between in-laws and out-laws?
A: Out-laws are wanted.
Here is a final thought for the day:
“If God is love, He is, by definition something more than mere kindness. And it appears, from all the records, that though he has often rebuked us and condemned us, He has never regarded us with contempt. He has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.”
—C.S. Lewis, “The Problem of Pain”, as quoted in “C.S. Lewis’ Little Book Of Wisdom” (2018)
Here’s to a great Tuesday (and the first day of school for many children!) and lots of love always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)