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If you ask
my next-door neighbor what he does for a living, he will
tell you that he is a professional gambler involved in
organized crime. In truth, he is an insurance
agent. He has a healthy disrespect for his business,
and extends that skeptical mode into his philosophy of
life. "We're all gamblers," says he,
"every one of us. And life is a continual
crapshoot and poker game and horse race." Then he
adds, "And I love the game!"
He's a
great believer in hedging his bets, however, protecting
himself by betting both ways when the odds are close.
Philosophically this gets expressed in these sayings mounted
on his office wall:
Always
trust your fellow human. And always cut the cards.
Always
trust God. And always build your house on high ground.
Always love
thy neighbor. And always pick a good neighborhood to
live in.
The race is
not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but
you better bet that way.
Place your
bet somewhere between turning-the-other-cheek and
enough-is-enough-already.
Place your
bet somewhere between haste-makes-waste and
he-who-hesitates-is-lost.
About
winning: It isn't important. What really counts
is how you play the game.
About
losing: It isn't important. What really counts
is how you play the game.
About
playing the game: Play to win!
Does he
really believe that? Does he live by it? I don't
know. But I play poker with him. And I bought my
insurance from him. I like his kinds of odds.
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Here
is more of Fulghum's philosophy--always go with
dreams, imagination, hope, laughter, and love--
accompanied by random musings on dandelions,
medicine cabinets, and the vices of excessive
tidiness, which are quirky and often thought-
provoking. Undergirded by his love for family
and (loosely understood) for God, this makes
refreshing reading. |
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