What Do You See?

   An economist was asked to talk to group of business people. She tacked up a big sheet of white paper. Then she drew a black spot on the paper and asked a man in the front row what she saw.

   The man answered promptly, “A black spot.”

   The speaker asked every person in the room the same question and each replied, “A black spot.”

   With calm and deliberate emphasis, the speaker then said, “Yes, there is a little black spot, but none of you mentioned the big sheet of white paper. And that’s speech.”

Christopher Newsletter

Seeing Dirt

   The estate of the Duke of Devonshire in England contains many priceless paintings and is open to the public. One day a group of people were moving through the spacious rooms admiring the paintings. One woman never spoke a word but would repeatedly go close to a picture and examine it very carefully. After the tour someone asked what she thought of it all.

   “It was perfect,” she said, with real enthusiasm, “I could not find a speck of dust anywhere.”

   How often we miss the beauty of life because we are so intent on looking for faults.

Uplift