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“Good Advice”
Getting good advice is not an easy thing. I've got several good sources. My buddy Cicero Fudd is a sage old fellow. He has lived a largely uneventful life doing odd jobs and trying to solve humanity's great problems. Ever since he learned he bears the name of a great philosopher, he has spent a lot of time with a furrowed brow, a faraway look in his eyes and deep in thought. Sometimes he gets under my skin. Then, just when I'm about ready to give up on him, he offers a piece of advice that makes me keep listening. Here are a few bits of Cicero's wit and wisdom that have lodged in my mind through the years:
- Don't buy no hair tonic from a baldheaded barber.
- Don't never trust nobody who ain't got no sense of humor.
- God is smarter than most people think. So don't try to outsmart God.
- A kickin' mule ain't pullin.'
- Don't put too much confidence in things you can't take with you.
- Quit listin' your losses and start countin' your blessin's.
One of my favorite sources of true wisdom is Marcus Aurelius, a second-century Roman emperor and stoic philosopher:
- The best way to avenge yourself is not to become like the one who has wronged you.
- The function of the healthy eye is to behold the whole visible world. It is not to murmur, “I want only to see the green.”
- In the morning when you rise unwillingly, think this thought: I am rising to the work of a human being…for which I was brought into this world.
I love the work of C. S. Lewis, one of the most celebrated Christian interpreters of the twentieth-century. He observes:
- We may ignore but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with him. He walks everywhere incognito.
- Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing has yet been done.
- If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you.
Sometimes good advice is found in common places like the instructions on products. A Jello box advises consumers to mix Jello as directed, then sit in the refrigerator for about half an hour 'til it starts to gel. Then add cottage cheese and crushed pineapple. I think this works best for Eskimos--at least the sitting in the refrigerator part.
My best advice to y'all is to sit in the refrigerator beginning now. It's plenty hot outdoors nowadays. Make all the Jello you want. You'd be smart to save your seat in the refrigerator 'til about mid September!
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