"The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none." Thomas Carlyle
One time President of the USA, Gerrard Ford, stumbled and almost fell off. The act of falling was photographed. His pictures in that awkward posture caused considerable embarrassment in Washington. Headlines asked inconvenient questions: Is the President okay? That 'okay' went beyond physical fitness. That 'okay' suggested that he was not okay. A moment of weakness made sensational news.
Often we too stumble - miss a step and almost fall - much to the amusement of our children. We recover our poise and brush off the incident. But our children continue to laugh. That is just one way of stumbling. When we break promises, we stumble. When we make tall claims and do not live up to them, we stumble. When we make resolutions and not pursue them, we stumble. In truth, we are stumbling in more ways than Gerrard Ford, and headlines are framed by our children at home, who miss out on nothing. They watch the fun and peg us down to less than ordinary mortals. We become objects of scorn because we will not acknowledge our faults and try to correct them. When will we stop stumbling, for the edification of our children?
One time President of the USA, Gerrard Ford, stumbled and almost fell off. The act of falling was photographed. His pictures in that awkward posture caused considerable embarrassment in Washington. Headlines asked inconvenient questions: Is the President okay? That 'okay' went beyond physical fitness. That 'okay' suggested that he was not okay. A moment of weakness made sensational news.
Often we too stumble - miss a step and almost fall - much to the amusement of our children. We recover our poise and brush off the incident. But our children continue to laugh. That is just one way of stumbling. When we break promises, we stumble. When we make tall claims and do not live up to them, we stumble. When we make resolutions and not pursue them, we stumble. In truth, we are stumbling in more ways than Gerrard Ford, and headlines are framed by our children at home, who miss out on nothing. They watch the fun and peg us down to less than ordinary mortals. We become objects of scorn because we will not acknowledge our faults and try to correct them. When will we stop stumbling, for the edification of our children?
