Daily Aphorisms

Clever Observations and Universal Truths

1

The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.

2

Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail.

3

If you don’t have a sense of humor, you probably don’t have any sense at all.

4

Seat belts are not as confining as wheelchairs.

5

A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you’re in deep water.

6

How come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night?

7

Business conventions are important because they demonstrate how many people a company can operate without.

8

Why is it that at class reunions, you feel younger than everyone else looks?

9

Scratch a cat, and you will have a permanent job.

10

No one has more driving ambition than the boy who wants to buy a car.

11

There are no new sins; the old ones just get more publicity.

12

There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4 AM. – Like this: It could be a right number.

13

No one ever says, ‘It’s only a game.’ when their team is winning.

14

I’ve reached the age where the happy hour is a nap.

15

Be careful reading the fine print. There’s no way you’re going to like it.

16

The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket.

17

Do you realize that in about 40 years, we’ll have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos? And rap music will be the Golden Oldies!

18

Money can’t buy happiness — but somehow it’s more comfortable to cry in a GT500 than in a Yugo.

19

After 60, if you don’t wake up aching in every joint, you are probably dead!

20

Always be yourself. Because the people that matter, don’t mind. And the one’s that mind, don’t matter.

21

Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

Which aphorism resonates with you most?

Share your favorite in the comments or on social media!

The White Crayon Paradox

Finding Meaning in the Most Overlooked Crayon

OK, now that I have a child, I remember wondering about things I haven’t thought about in a long time. My son Tyler likes to draw, well, scribble for now, and the other day he was drawing, and he pulled out the white crayon. He scribbled with the white crayon and looked perplexed why it wasn’t producing color on the paper.

This leads me to ask: why do we have a white crayon in the crayon box of life, does anyone actually use it, and if so for what purpose? According to the Urban Dictionary, if someone is a “white crayon” it means they are utterly useless.

A Brief History of the White Crayon

In 1903, when the Crayola crayons were first introduced, the white crayon was not one of the first original colors. It was added in 1949 following the aftermath of WWII.

Someone asked what the white crayon is used for on Yahoo Answers (glad I’m not the only one) and below is the community’s best answer: “They are best used for adding glare and highlights to your colored drawings. They provide more depth and interest than just flat color because they make objects have a reflectance value and your drawings will pop.”

OK, that sounds nice in theory but common who uses that crayon?

The Philosophy of White

If something is white, it means it is the presence of the combination of all colors in the visible spectrum, which is really powerful if you think about it. I mean, if a color has all colors in it, and the result is no color at all, maybe God is trying to tell us something.

Perhaps our world focuses too much on color, and we need to see life as the white crayon (with no color at all).

Life Lessons from the White Crayon

Sometimes Our Value Isn’t Immediately Visible

Just like the white crayon on white paper, our contributions aren’t always obvious at first glance.

We Need the Right Context to Shine

On colored paper, the white crayon suddenly becomes one of the most useful in the box.

Sometimes We Contain Multitudes

White light contains all wavelengths of visible light, yet appears to have no color at all.

Join the Conversation

Have you ever found an unexpected use for the white crayon? What other “useless” things might actually have hidden value?

If the World Were a Village of 100 People

Understanding Global Demographics in Perspective

If we could reduce the world’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:

Geographic Distribution

60
Asians
14
Africans
12
Europeans
8
Latin Americans
5
USA/Canada
1
South Pacific

Gender

51

Male

49

Female

Ethnicity

82

Non-white

18

White

Religion

67

Non-Christian

33

Christian

Living Conditions

80

Would live in substandard housing

67

Would be unable to read

50

Would be malnourished

33

Would lack access to safe water

39

Would lack access to improved sanitation

24

Would not have electricity

Connection & Education

7
people
Internet Access
1
person
College Education
1
person
Has HIV

Life Cycle

2
people

Would be near birth

1
person

Would be near death

Wealth Distribution

32% of wealth
68% of wealth
5 people
(all US citizens)
95 people
(rest of the village)

Just 5 people (all US citizens) would control 32% of the entire world’s wealth.

Source: Originally from FamilyCare.org (link no longer active)

Join the Conversation

What statistic surprised you the most? How does this perspective change your view of global issues?