Reece Gardner: Can't see the forest for the trees

I want to expand on a Column I wrote a few years ago about how two people can look at the same thing and draw different conclusions. Today I want to touch on that theme by mixing humor and reality. You have heard the expression, "Can't see the forest for the trees," and that does happen.

For example, a man sees a sign in front of a house: "Talking Dog for Sale." He rings the doorbell and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard. He goes into the backyard and sees a huge dog just sitting there. "You talk?" he asks. "Yep," the dog replies. "So then, what's your story?" The dog looks up and begins to tell his story: "I discovered this gift and I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA about my gift, and in no time they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. For eight years I was one of their most valuable spies, but the jetting around began to tire me, and I wanted to settle down.

So I signed up to do some undercover security work at the airport, mostly wandering near suspicious characters and listening in, I uncovered some incredible things there and was awarded a bunch of medals." The man is amazed! he goes back in the house and asks the owner what he wants for the dog, and the owner says, "Ten dollars." The guy says, "This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him so cheaply?" The owner replies, "Because he's such a liar. He didn't do any of those things!"

Another example; A customs officer at the Mexican border noticed a man coming across one day on a bicycle with two small sacks tied to the handlebars. He naturally got suspicious and asked him to open the sacks, but when he did he found nothing but sand, This went on every day for the next month. Each day he'd stop the bicycle and open the sacks, and find only sand.

A few years later he ran into the biker in a restaurant in Tijuana. After some small talk he said, "Come on. I knew you were smuggling something all that time. I won't tell. I'm just curious. What was it?" The man replied, "Bicycles!"

Folks, we live in a world of reality, but that doesn't mean we can't laugh a little along the way.

Now to end on a humorous note: A well-dressed gentleman felt sorry for an old man "fishing" in a puddle outside a pub, so he invited him inside for a drink. As they sipped their drinks, the gentleman thought he'd humor the old man, and he asked, "So how many have you caught today?" The old man replied, "You're the eighth." Things are not always what they seem!

Have a WONDROUS Day!