Show me . . . Don't Tell Me
A ruthless publisher once said to author Mark Twain, "Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud from the top."
"I have a better idea," Twain remarked, "You could stay home here and keep them."
Talk is cheap. It's what we do that counts--not what we say--and when our words don't match our actions, we are, as the Apostle Paul put it, as empty vessels and clanging symbols.
One of the best lessons simply reads, "Show me. Don't tell me!"
Whatever we want to teach others, especially to our children, we need to model ourselves before we can make any lasting impact. Otherwise what we say becomes unbelievable and the only person we deceive in the long run will be ourselves.
Murthy Malladi