Reece Gardner: Discretion in taking advice

I want to talk today about giving and receiving advice. But first, a word of caution about the effort being made by some in this country to employ an all-mail national election in November. This is risky, to say the least. 

Mail-in ballots are voted outside the supervision and overview of election officials and could lead to the destruction of the secret ballot and greatly increase the likelihood of fraud. I will have more on this subject in a future column.

Now, on giving and receiving advice we need to be careful with the words we use. For example, if we advise someone to "Always tell the truth," we might be going a little too far. In a recent re-run of "The Andy Griffith Show," Opie and one of his friends embarked on presenting a weekly newsletter about happenings in Mayberry, but because the content was so bland, no one seemed interested in reading it. 

Andy suggested that they put stories in the newsletter that would arouse the interest of the people, such as gossip items, which would be fine, he said, as long as they told the truth. The boys did that by quietly listening in on what the adults were saying, such as Barney remarking to Aunt Bea that a certain lady, whose name Barney used, was not really a blonde, but was a "Blonde right out of the bottle."  And Andy was heard remarking that their minister was a good person, but his sermons were often "dry as dust."  The boys picked up on other items as well and put all of it in their paper. 

A real scramble then ensued, with Barney, Andy, and Aunt Bea frantically trying to round up all the mimeographed sheets before they could be distributed. Now Opie and his friend had told the truth, but they had not used caution in so doing. All of us can be stubborn about following advice that we should listen to. A humorous example of this was the man who bought a horse. The person who sold him the horse cautioned him that this horse was different from most others. For example, if you wanted him to go forward, you had to say "Praise the Lord," and if you wanted him to stop, you had to say "Hallelujah."  The man scoffed at this advice, but when he shouted, "Getiup. Getiup," the horse didn't move. 

So he finally said, "Praise the Lord," and the horse quickly moved forward. They were then approaching a cliff, but the horse would not listen to, "Whoa, Whoa," so the man shouted, "Hallelujah," upon which the horse stopped two feet from the edge of the cliff. Relieved, the man took out his handkerchief, wiped his brow, and said, "Praise the Lord," and over the cliff they went. We just need to try to determine that the advice we give and the advice we receive is sound.

Now, a humorous close:  It was Grandpa Jones' 100th birthday, and he was still in perfect health.  At his birthday party he was asked how he managed to live so long and stay so fit. He explained, "I put my long life down to spending a lot of time outdoors. I've been in the open air, day after day, rain or shine, for the past 75 years." 

He was then asked how he managed to keep up such a rigorous fitness schedule. "It's simple," he said.  "When I married my wife 75 years ago, we both made a solemn pledge:  We agreed that whenever we had a disagreement, whoever was proved wrong would go outside and take a long walk." 

May this day be one of your best ever!