I remarked in the last post about comments made to a preacher who
was satisfied with his orations. Here's another one: A preacher
was glowing with pride as the church members made their way out
of the sanctuary, and he asked an honest old farmer what he thought
of the sermon. The farmer, who just had to be truthful, shifted
his Sunday allotment of chewing tobacco from one cheek to the other
as he gave his verdict. "I was in the back pew, Reverend, and the
people up front were swallowing up all the best parts, so what
got back to me was pretty poor stuff, pretty poor stuff."
Often this is the case. Right now in U.S. politics we have seen
the departure of
Donald Rumsfeld
and the startling power shift in the
Congress.
This is, of course, the fallout from the voters in the world's
most powerful country telling their Chief what they think of him.
His performance does not fit his statements, and what the people
really heard was not honest confidence but desperate bombast,
or to quote our church-going farmer, "pretty poor stuff".
Another familiar quotation that comes to mind is
Abraham Lincoln's
"You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of
the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people
all of the time".
Those responsible for misleading us don't always intend to mislead,
as they often sincerely believe what they say. Some simply want
to be followed, to be important, and they adopt causes and speak
accordingly. But eventually "the truth will out", and what gets
to "the back of the church" is "pretty poor stuff" indeed.
So what's the message for us in all this? To warp a couple
of well-known sayings: Listen before you leap, and listen
with your eyes open.
