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{Straight From the Heart} *The Girl and the Match* 2/1/01
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The Girl and the Match
By Steve Stockdale
The renowned Count Alfred Korzybski, a Polish-American mathematician and
observer of human nature, had been asked to speak at a prestigious school
for girls. He was told beforehand that there was one particular girl who
posed a problem at the school. The girl was quite talented and intelligent,
but something of a disciplinary problem and not really liked by the other
girls - in short, she was "full of herself".
"AK" (as his friends called him) arranged for the girl to be seated on the
stage with him at a small table after she introduced him. She, of course,
sat beaming with pride as she shared the stage with the famous Count
Korzybski as he began his talk, seated behind the table.
As he was famous for doing, during his talk he pulled out from his
pocket a pack of cigarettes, a holder, and a small box of matches and
placed them on the table in front of him, within reach of the girl.
After a few minutes, he made something of a show of taking a
cigarette from the pack and placing it in the holder. The girl,
eagerly watching him, seated within reach of the matches, waited
expectantly for AK to nod when he was ready for the cigarette to be
lit. Sure enough, as soon as he gave her the slightest nod, she
grabbed the box of matches, pushed the middle open and reached inside
to take a match.
To her surprise, however, the box was empty. AK, who had continued
talking throughout, stopped so that the entire room focused attention
on the girl. She opened the box completely, turned it upside down to
show it was empty, and said rather haughtily, "Who would carry around
an empty matchbox?"
AK then replied dismissively, "My dear, the world is a far bigger
place than you've ever imagined."
With that he continued his talk as he removed the cigarette from the
holder and placed them back on the table.
A few minutes later he reached into his pocket, pulled out another
box of matches and placed them on the table within reach of the girl.
Again, she watched intently as he first prepared the cigarette, then
gave her the signal he was ready. This time, instead of immediately
opening the matchbox, she held it up to her ear and shook it. Hearing
the rustle of matches inside, she smiled knowingly, then opened the
box and pulled out a matchstick to light AK's extended cigarette.
But the matchstick she took from the box was already burnt. The
slightest bit embarrassed, she looked through the box and then in
exasperation dumped them out on the table. "They're all burnt! I
can't believe you would carry around burnt matches! My parents would
NEVER do anything like that!"
AK gave her a rather impatient, knowing look and declared, "The world
is a much bigger and more complicated place than you or even your
parents could ever imagine."
He again placed the cigarette and holder on the table and continued
his talk. After a few more minutes time, he took from his pocket a
third box of matches and placed it on the table.
This time the girl didn't even wait for him to ready his cigarette.
She immediately grabbed the box of matches, held it to her ear, and
shook it.
Nothing.
She confidently set the matches back on the table, looked up at AK,
and sat back in her chair, very proud of herself indeed.
AK continued talking and slowly began preparing the cigarette. The
girl didn't move. When he was ready to light the cigarette, still
continuing his talk, he picked up the box of matches, gave one end of
the box a sharp poke with his finger, and the box opened. It was
packed with fresh, unlit matches that had been jammed into the box
such that there was no room for them to 'shake'. He took one, struck
it against the box, and lit his cigarette.
AK talked and smoked, while the girl sat bewildered.
AK followed up a few months later to find out
that, indeed, the girl's behavior had changed since the meeting. She
had begun to delay her reactions, and begun to act a little less
"full of herself".
Steve Stockdale
steve@thisisnotthat.com
Send Steve an email and let him know what you thought of his story!
********
Steve Stockdale serves as a Trustee of the Institute of General Semantics
(url: www.general-semantics.org) and lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth
Metroplex. He works as a marketing manager with a major electronics company,
but his passions are his own website: www.ThisIsNotThat.com ("...differences that make a difference..."); and his half of the new site: www.He-Said-She-Said.NET
("A Virtual Community with Intelligent Discourse About REALationships").
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REQUESTS:
From: AMMahnke@webtv.net (Angi Mahnke)
My husband Mark is having arthoscopic knee surgery on Thursday, February1.
If the dr. finds a torn ligament Mark might be off work up to 6
weeks. Please pray for Mark's healing, his peace of mind and the
surgery to go well. Thanks!
Angi M.
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From the Email Box!
Re: *The Dash* 1/31/01
I will contact Miss Ellis re her poem but I wanted to also thank you for sending it.
My husband died in May of 98. His life was full of struggles and most of the time he didn't feel worthwhile. But he was a very good man and touched a lot of lives in a very positive way. After he died I heard this poem on a radio station and it was like it was about my husband. Just wanted to relate this to you to let you know your efforts are meaningful!!
Thank you!
Jan
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Thought For The Day:
"The past should be a springboard not a hammock."--Iverne Ball
Verse for the Day:
"...but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind me, and
reaching forth unto those things which are before." --Philippians 3:13
Kid's Thought For The Day:
This woman and her son are in a nice restaurant. There's quite a bit of food left
over, so the woman tells the waiter, "Please put the meat in a bag for
the dog."
The son jumps up, "Wow, Mom, are we getting a dog?"
Parent's Thought For The Day:
MICHELANGELO'S MOTHER: "Can't you just paint on walls like other children?"
Coach's Thought For The Day:
"...For an athlete to function properly, he must be intent. There has to be a definite purpose and goal if you are to progress. If you are not intent about what you are doing, you aren't able to resist the temptation to do something else that might be more fun at the moment."--John Wooden
Deep Thought For The Day:
"The early worm gets caught by the bird."
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_
/_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ / THUNDER27@aol.com
/_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \ Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live for the Son
\_\/ of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20
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