MEDIOCRITY
Only the mediocre are always at their best.
—Jean Girandoux
Mediocrity is climbing molehills without sweating.
—Icelandic proverb
A small motel in Clarendon, a small west Texas town, is named “It’ll Do Motel.”
The greatest heresy is mild religion.
—Elton Trueblood
MEEKNESS
A boy was once asked, “Who are the meek?” He thought for a moment and then answered, “They are the people who give soft answers to hard questions.”
In Greek antiquities is the story of a young soldier who wrote to his sweetheart concerning a gift he longed to present to her: a silver stallion. “He is the most magnificent animal I have ever seen,” related the soldier, “but he responds obediently to the slightest command.… He allows his master to direct him to his full potential. He is truly a meek horse.”
—Gerald Mann
MEMORIES
Memories are a gift of God so we can enjoy the roses in December.
Things aren’t what they used to be and probably never were.
MEMORY
A rookie salesman said to a top salesman, “How can you remember names so well?”
He answered, “I took the Dick Carnegie course.”
The faintest ink is more lasting than the strongest memory.
—Chinese proverb
Scientists tell us that the human mind can store as many as six hundred memories a second in a lifetime of seventy-five years with the slightest strain. That works out to 1,419,120,000,000 memories! When memory becomes flabby, lack of mental exercise (more than advancing years) is usually the reason.
To live in the hearts of those we leave behind us is not to die.
—Thomas Campbell
Lincoln attributed his excellent memory to a lifelong habit of reading outloud. “When I read aloud, two senses catch the idea: first I see what I read; second I hear it, and therefore I can remember it better.”
A woman came down to the River Styx to be ferried across to the region of departed spirits. Charon, the ferryman, reminded her that it was a privilege to drink of the waters of the Lethe and thus forget the life she was leaving. This seemed to be a wonderful idea and she said, “I will forget how I have suffered.” “And,” added Charon, “remember, too, that you will forget how you have rejoiced.” She said, “I will forget my failures.” The old ferryman added, “And also your victories.” She continued, “I will forget how I have been hated.” “And also how you have been loved,” added Charon. So, when she considered the whole matter, she decided not to drink the Lethe potion, but retain her memory even of the bad that she might not forget the good.
—Gerald Kennedy
Three men in Canada invented Trivial Pursuit. The game sold widely, and they made millions of dollars. When one of them was interviewed as to why the game was successful, he answered, “People are buying memories.”
MENNONITES
At a Mennonite school boys and girls sat separately in chapel, with the girls on one side and the boys on the other. One day the boys were singing, “Oh to be over yonder.” The girls were singing, “Why do you wait, dear brothers?”
MENTAL HEALTH
There are three main areas of importance to every human being. They are identity, recognition as a person; stimulation, the need for change as escape from boredom; and security, the opposite of anxiety.
—Earl Nightingale
MENTORING
In ancient mythology, before he left for Troy, Odysseus (the forever-after symbol of the eternal quest of man) gave his son, Telemachus, into the care of Mentor, whom he charged with looking after the household and attending to Telmachius’s educational needs. Thus “mentor” has become a term that speaks of closeness and kindness in education.
MERCY
One night in 1935, Fiorello H. La Guardia, mayor of New York, showed up in a night court in the poorest ward of the city. He dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench. One case involved an elderly woman who was caught stealing bread to feed her grandchildren. La Guardia said, “I’ve got to punish you ten dollars or ten days in jail.”
As he spoke, he threw ten dollars into his hat. He then fined everyone in the court fifty cents for living in a city “where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat.” The hat was passed around and the woman left the courtroom with her fine paid and an additional $47.50.
An ancient Saxon chronicle tells of a king in whose country a rebellion developed. This king set out with an army to quell the insurrection. Soon things were in control again, with the rebel army defeated. The king, who had made his headquarters in one of the castles of that distant province, placed a candle in the archway over its entrance. Lighting the candle, he then announced that if all who were in rebellion against him would surrender and take an oath of loyalty while the candle was still burning, they would be spared. Here is clemency, but only for the life of the candle.
—Walter K. Price
METRIC SYSTEM
Here is a sampling of how the metric system would affect some of our most popular slogans and proverbs:
“A kilogram of flesh.”
“A 30.48 centimeter-long hot dog.”
“Kilogram for kilogram, he’s the best.”
“I’d walk 1,609 kilometers for a Camel.”
“A miss is as good as 1,609 kilometers.”
“It hit me like 907 kilograms of bricks!”
“He missed by 1,609 kilometers.”
“Peter Piper picked 8.81 liters of pickled peppers.”
“Give him 2.54 centimeters and he’ll take 1,609 kilometers.”
“28,350 grams of prevention are worth 453,592 grams of cure.”
MIDDLE AGE – OLD AGE
The prime of life is that fleeting time between green and overripe.
—Cullen Hightower
Middle age is the time of life when work begins to be a lot less fun and fun begins to be a lot more work.
—Farmers’ Almanac
You’ve reached middle age when all you exercise is caution.
A man has reached middle age when the girl he winks at thinks he has something in his eye.
The period between adolescence and old age is when you have to take care of yourself.
Years ago, I remember listening to Arthur Godfrey do a radio ad for a cure-all medicine. The ad went, “At last, hope for middle age.” Godfrey paused and said, “I’ve got hope. What I need is help.”
—Fred Smith
Middle age is the metallic age: you have gold in your teeth, silver in your hair, and lead in your pants.
Life may begin at forty, but everything else begins to wear out, fall out, or spread out.
The big five of middle age are baldness, bifocals, bridgework, bulges, and bunions.
MILLENNIUM
A lad inquired of his father, “What is the millennium?” Answer: “Don’t you know what a millennium is? It’s just about like a centennial, only it’s got more legs.”
—K. A. Carlson
MIND
The mind is like the stomach. It is not how much you put into it that counts, but how much it digests.