Before You Speak

I recently heard a believer state a commonly used position when arguing their point -

"Don't be mad at me, be mad at God. I'm just telling you what he says." 

Of course, I know other believers who use scripture to maintain a view opposite that of the speaker.  People bring their history, culture, politics, even their personality... to their reading and study. I don't think anyone gets a clean read... of anything.

In the end, believers draw different messages out of the Bible based on who they are. So, I maintain that everyone just needs to take responsibility for their own arguments.  As King Leonidas said,

"Before you speak, Persian, know that in Sparta, everyone, even a king's messenger, is held accountable for the words of his voice."

Cleaning the Classroom

The psychology of this is fascinating to watch play out in a classroom.  Kids are very different.  

Out of twenty kids, I will have 4 actively working... at not picking up or putting away anything. 

Another 4 are spending their whole time monitoring and being upset that other people are not doing their share and they have to give me updates (which prevents them from cleaning).  

There are the 4 who always need to use the bathroom the moment we start cleaning.

There are 4 cleaning but resenting the hell out of the 12 who aren't doing anything.

And there are 4 who happily make our room a nicer place for everyone.

Coin Toss

Years ago, I listened to a BBC podcast on wealth studies.  One of the experiments consisted of people playing Monopoly.  Before the game started, players had a coin toss to see who would play with advantages and who would play with disadvantages.  The advantaged players had the option of rolling 3 dice, started with more money and some property.  Disadvantaged could only roll one die.

The advantaged were soon winning and dominating the game.  They began to speak louder with an air of entitlement in their voice.  They even started hogging the snacks.

After the game, when asked what factors contributed to the advantaged players winning, most of the advantaged talked about their strategies and how they played the game.  

Only a small percentage of the advantaged ever mentioned the fact that they won the coin toss.