Ray’s Daily
January 11, 2022
“For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future but an excuse can last for life.”
Eric Hoffer
Ray’s Daily first published on January 11, 2006
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If you are like I am it is far too easy to use an excuse in order to avoid action, commitment, chores, donations, or any one of the thousands of choices we make in our lifetime. In my mind there are two kinds of excuses that are especially harmful to those of us who use them.
The first is the excuses we use to justify our behavior. Too many of us say things like, “I just can never get up on time” or “I would do it but I am not handy with tools,” once we decide that that is what we are, that will be what we will be. We are never going to do better if we have an excuse not to try. The list is endless, “I don’t want to try Asian cooking because I had some once,” “I don’t go to any of the meetings because I know they are a waste of time,” we could go on and on. The bottom line is that when we excuse ourselves we are really saying is that we are too lazy to try. That’s ok if that is what you want to do, but if you do you will never experience the feeling you get when surprise yourself with what you really can do. An example for me was a long history of avoiding fish, once I eat some because there was no choice I ended up kicking myself for missing something I found I really liked for so long.
The second type of excuse is even worse. Those are the ones we use to rationalize avoiding doing something worthy. Do we really fool anyone when we say things like I never give anything to charity since I know they all just spend the money on the staff, or make some other judgmental proclamation? Or when we say “I never vote, everyone knows voting does not make any difference,” of course when we don’t vote we can blame someone else for electing people we don’t like. Why can’t we just be honest and say I don’t want to donate to charity or that we chose not to get involved in elections or the like? Maybe if we were honest with ourselves we would not be too happy with what we see. But like everything else it is up to us individually to make the choices we make. I just hope that when I make mine that they are not all based on my avoiding doing anything that requires effort.
Oh by the way. I do appreciate people who make white lie excuses in order not to hurt my feelings. I handle “I can’t make it, I have a previous commitment,” much better than I do someone telling me,“Are you kidding me, why would I go with you, I don’t like you.”
~~~
He who excuses himself, accuses himself.
Gabriel Meurier
~~~
Florida
Note: If you are not a resident of FLORIDA or never have lived in hot, humid south Florida, youmay not understand the weight of this blessing!
Bless this house, oh Lord, we cry.
Please keep it cool in mid-July.
Bless the walls where termites dine
While ants and roaches march in time.
Bless our yard where spiders pass
Fire ant castles in the grass.
Bless the garage, a home to please
Carpenter beetles, ticks and fleas.
Bless the love bugs, two by two,
The gnats and mosquitoes that feed on you.
Millions of creatures that fly or crawl, In FLORIDA, Lord, you’ve put them all!
But this is home, and here we’ll stay,
So thank you Lord, for insect spray.
~~~
She said: All Desirable things in life are either ILLEGAL, BANNED, FATTENING, OR MARRIED TO OTHERS.
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A couple of women moved in across the hall from me. One is a middle-aged gym teacher and the other is a social worker in her mid-twenties. These two women go everywhere together and I’ve never seen a man go into their apartment or come out. Do you think they could be Lebanese?
~~~
My forty-year-old son has been paying a psychiatrist $50 an hour every week for two-and-a-half years. He must be crazy.
~~~
She said: Curious when I found two black-and-white negatives in a drawer, I had them made into prints. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were of a younger, slimmer me, taken on one of my first dates with my husband.
When I showed him the photos, his face lit up. “Wow, look at that!” he said with appreciation. “It’s my old Plymouth!”
~~~
Regrets and recriminations only hurt your soul.
Armand Hammer
~~~
THE TODDLER’S RULES
* If it is on, I must turn it off.
* If it is off, I must turn it on.
* If it is folded, I must unfold it.
* If it is liquid, it must be shaken then spilled.
* If it is solid, it must be crumbled, chewed or smeared.
* If it is high, it must be reached.
* If it is shelved, it must be unshelved.
* If it is pointed, it must be run with full speed.
* If it has leaves, they must be picked.
* If it is plugged, it must be unplugged.
* If it is trash, it must be removed, inspected and thrown on the floor.
* If it is closed, it must be opened.
* If it does not open, it must be screamed at.
* If it has drawers, they must be rifled.
* If it is a pen or pencil, it must write on refrigerator, monitor, TV or table.
* If it is full, it will be more interesting empty.
* If it is empty, it must be more interesting full.
* If it is a pile of dirt, it must be laid upon.
* If it has a flat surface, it must be banged upon.
* If it is a paper, it must be torn.
* If it has switches, they must be pressed.
* If the volume is low, it must go high.
* If it is a bug, it must be swallowed. If it doesn’t stay on my spoon, it must be dropped on the floor.
* If it is not food, it must be tasted.
* If it is food, it must not be tasted.
* If it is dry, it must be made wet.
~~~
“I’m dating a guy who’s twenty-one. That’s seven in boy years.”
Lisa Goich
~~~
An evangelist had a great revival camp going. One night he was up in front of a large audience, speaking on imperfection. He asked his audience towards the end, “Has anyone ever known anyone who has come CLOSE to the perfection of our lord, Jesus Christ?” Nobody, of course raised their hand. So he issued the question again. “Anybody! Has ANYONE ever known that kind of perfection?”
Finally a guy in the back raised his hand, so of course he was asked to stand up. “Tell us. Tell us who you knew who was so close to perfection.”
The man responded, “My wife’s first husband.”
~~~
“The trick is not how much pain you feel–but how much joy you feel.
Any idiot can feel pain.
Life is full of excuses to feel pain, excuses not to live, excuses, excuses, excuses.”
Erica Jong
~~~
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
Ray’s Daily has been sent for more than twenty years to people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@comcast.net. Back issues are posted at http://rays-daily,com/ currently there are hundreds of readers from around the world.
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