[guide.chat] how i am like a pencil

From: "harold kitching" <harold.kitching01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "guide chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2013 21:52:35 -0000
:B-F [WarmFuzzyStories] HOW I'M LIKE A PENCIL

HOW I'M LIKE A PENCIL
By Steve Goodier

It occurs to me that I have a lot in common with a pencil. That's 
right, a simple and humble little pencil. Not the fancy mechanical 
kind. That's too high maintenance for me. And I'm not as showy as a 
plume pen or as smooth as a ballpoint. I don't live in bold strokes 
like a heavy marker. But I'm a lot like a pencil. Here's how:

1. Like a pencil, I have a built-in eraser. I can correct my mistakes. 
No, I can't change the past, but I can make it right again. And if I 
can't erase history (after all, what's done is done) I can at least 
erase a great deal of guilt and anger with forgiveness.

2. Like a pencil, I do better if I'm sharpened once in a while. My mind 
and skills grow dull without occasional honing. Even my spirit and 
attitudes need refining if I'm to be at my best. And there is something 
else, too. I find that the difficulties of life wear away at me, and 
they can either grind me down or shape me into a person who is more 
capable and creative. The sharpening I get from living through tough 
times is often painful, but I know it can make me a better person.

3. Pencils work best in a skilled hand. And like a pencil, I can do 
some pretty terrific things with a little guidance. Other people bring 
out the best in me, and with the help of others, I can do far more than 
I ever can alone.

4. Like a pencil, I should leave my mark whenever possible. I too often 
underestimate my influence on another. I have daily opportunities to 
leave something good behind. That is what it means to leave my mark. It 
may be in small ways, it may be in the lives of people I love, people I 
have touched or nurtured, or even in incidental conversations struck 
with strangers. But, I have a mark to leave and should use every 
opportunity to leave something good behind.

5. Like a pencil, it is what is on the inside that matters. A pencil 
without lead is useless. And a yellow pencil will not do when a black 
or red pencil is called for. What is on the inside is all important. My 
outer appearance matters less than I probably think, while it's the 
stuff on the inside that folks notice about me. Whether it is 
understanding or intolerance, love or bitterness, peace or unrest, 
kindness or self-centeredness, hope or despair, courage or fear, what 
is on the inside matters most.

6. A pencil works best on paper or canvass. It will never leave its 
mark on water and will wear itself down against a mirror. I do best 
knowing my strengths and limitations. I can't do everything well and 
that is okay. There is still plenty of good to be done by doing what I do best.

7. And finally, like a pencil, the biggest part of my purpose in this 
life can be summed up in three words: to be useful. When I'm too broken 
to hold together, when everything is ground away or worn away, when I 
no longer have anything to contribute, I know my life is coming to an end.

Like I said, I have a lot in common with a pencil.

--Steve Goodier
[guide.chat] how i am like a pencil

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