The Runaway Train

You come home and you find your friend/spouse/kid sitting on the couch with a bag of chips and soda watching MTV/NFL/HSN; what do you make of it? Do you blow up or smile in approval? Is that sloth or rest? How do you know the difference?



Let’s start with the definitions. Sloth is beyond laziness, it is intentional avoidance of work or labor of any kind. Sloth is beyond sleepiness, it is forcing and training your body to the form of a couch or Laziboy. Rest is earned respite from a hard day’s work. Rest is the peace that comes from an overworked system finally being allowed to shut down.



So how do you know the difference between the two? Answer #1: No single event can be judged without its context. A wife came home to find her husband sleeping on the couch at 2:00 in the afternoon. She blew a gasket! Woke him and yelled at him and told him to get back to work. No event (sleeping on the couch) can be judged without its context. We don’t know if he was being slothful or simply resting. Would it help you to make that decision if you knew he was up all night finishing reports, studying, or dealing with a sick relative? Would it help you to know if he just started that job, the 5th job in a month, and now is home sleeping again? Would it help you to know that he just got home from the hospital with a mild heart attack? You need to know the context so don’t just blow a gasket, find out the reasons.



Answer #2: Sloth takes time to perfect, like a fine wine. No one can sit in a couch or on a chair all day without a little bit of practice. Your body simply does not work that way unless you train it to or drug it into submission. Sloth is not a single event, it is a lifestyle. Rest is an event. Rest can be scheduled or spontaneous but it has a start and a finish. Rest has an alarm clock, sloth has a calendar.



Answer #3: Sloth saps your energy, rest builds up your energy. Slothful people are ALWAYS tired whereas rested people are, well, rested and ready to get started again.



Answer #4: Sloth will often have a psychosis attached to it of some kind. It might be depression or anger or fear or whatever, but sloth never walks alone.



Laziness can be adjusted with good, consistent discipline but sloth is like a slow moving, fully loaded, runaway train you are fighting to catch up to and stop. Beware of a steep grade; catch yourself and your loved ones in time before it is too hard to stop it.

By Steve Wunderink

Success Another Perspective?

THE YEAR WAS 1905

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year 1905 :

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City
cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and
only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more
heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the
21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year .

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home .

Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had no college education.

Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which
were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or
egg yolks for shampoo.

Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been
admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't
been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter
at the local corner drugstores.

Back then pharmacist said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives
buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is,
in fact, a perfect guardian of health." (Shocking!)

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one
full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

And I copied this from someone else without typing it myself,
and posted it for you in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.
It staggers the mind.

What a difference a century makes!