Be Tactful<\/b><\/p>\n
Joe had a cat he loved very much. When he went west to California on a business trip he left the cat with his brother Al and his mother. When Joe arrived in Los Angeles he called his brother and asked him how the cat was doing. Al replied bluntly, \u201cI\u2019m real sorry, Joe, but your cat is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brokenhearted, Joe said, \u201cHow could you be so cruel? You know how I loved that cat. You could have said, \u2018Your cat is up on the roof and we can\u2019t get her down!\u2019 Then the next time I called you could have told me, \u2018Your cat is off the roof but it has broken a small bone in its leg and is in the hospital.\u2019\u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cThen a few days later, when I was better prepared, you could have called and said, \u2018Your cat has passed away in her sleep. She felt no pain.\u2019\u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re right,\u201d replied Al meekly. \u201cI\u2019m real sorry about how it was handled. Please forgive me.\u201d<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks later Joe once again called his brother from California. After chatting for awhile he asked, \u201cSay, Al, how\u2019s Mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, Mother?\u201d responded Al, \u201cO.K., I guess, but she\u2019s up on the roof and we can\u2019t get her down…\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
How to be Tactful<\/b><\/p>\n
Perhaps you heard about the husband who lacked tact. Early one morning his wife left for a trip abroad…and that very day their poodle died. When she called home that evening, she asked how everything was\u2014and he bluntly blurted out, \u201cWell, the dog died!\u201d Shocked, she chided him through tears for being so tactless, so strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat should I have said?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should\u2019ve broken the news gently, perhaps in stages. When I called you from here in New York, you could have said, \u2018The dog is on the roof.\u2019 And the next day when I called you from London, \u2018He fell off the roof.\u2019 The following day from Paris, you could have told me, \u2018He is at the vet\u2019s…in the hospital.\u2019 And finally, from Rome, I could have then been informed, \u2018He died.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The husband paused and thought about the advice. His wife then asked, \u201cBy the way, how is mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
He responded, \u201cShe\u2019s on the roof!\u201d<\/p>\n
Charles R. Swindoll, Standing Out, (Multnomah Press, Portland, OR; 1983), p. 79<\/p>\n
It\u2019s How You Say It<\/b><\/p>\n
In the Middle East they tell the following story to illustrate the essence of tact:<\/p>\n
A sultan called in one of his seers and asked how long he would live.<\/p>\n
\u201cSire,\u201d said the seer, \u201cyou will live to see all of your sons dead.\u201d The sultan flew into a rage and handed the prophet over to his guards for execution. Then he called for a second seer and asked the same question.<\/p>\n
\u201cSire,\u201d said the prophet, \u201cI see you blessed with long life, so long that you will outlive all your family.\u201d The sultan was delighted and rewarded the seer with gold and silver trinkets.<\/p>\n
Both prophets knew the truth, but one had tact, the other did not.<\/p>\n
Bits & Pieces, March 30, 1995, pp. 1-2<\/p>\n
A Toast<\/b><\/p>\n
Admiral Heihachio Togo, whose brilliant tactics had destroyed the Russian fleet at the battle of the Sea of Japan in 1905, visited the United States shortly after the Russo-Japanese War. At a state dinner in Admiral Togo\u2019s honor, William Jennings Bryan was asked to propose a toast. Because Bryan was well known as a strict teetotaler, it was feared that an embarrassing breakdown of protocol was about to occur. But as Bryan stood to propose his toast, he held up his glass and said, \u201cAdmiral Togo has won a great victory on water, and I will therefore toast him in water. When Admiral Togo wins a victory on champagne I will toast him in champagne.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, September 17, 1992<\/p>\n
John Wesley Said the Hand Is Very Beautiful<\/b><\/p>\n
John Wesley and a preacher-friend of plain habits were once invited to dinner where the host\u2019s daughter, noted for her beauty, had been profoundly impressed by Wesley\u2019s preaching. During a pause in the meal, Wesley\u2019s friend took the young woman\u2019s hand and called attention to the sparkling rings she wore. \u201cWhat do you think of this, sir, for a Methodist hand?\u201d the girl turned crimson. Wesley likewise was embarrassed, for his aversion to jewelry was only too well known. But with a benevolent smile, he simply said, \u201cThe hand is very beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wesley\u2019s remark both cooled the too-hot water poured by his friend, and made the foot-washing gentle. The young woman appeared at the evening service without her jewels, and became a strong Christian.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
He Just Learned to Say Manure<\/b><\/p>\n
There is a story that when Harry Truman was speaking at a Grange convention in Kansas City, Mrs. Truman and a friend were in the audience. Truman in his speech said, \u201cI grew up on a farm and one thing I know\u2014farming means manure, manure, manure, and more manure.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this, Mrs. Truman\u2019s friend whispered to her, \u201cBess, why on earth don\u2019t you get Harry to say fertilizer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood Lord, Helen,\u201d replied Mrs. Truman, \u201cYou have no idea how many years it has taken me to get him to say manure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bits and Pieces, April, 1991<\/p>\n
Quote<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Putting it nicely, but not quite precisely. – Norma Becket<\/p>\n
Consider the Other Persons Feelsings<\/b><\/p>\n
When pointing out a mistake by another person, always consider the person\u2019s feelings. Milton Berle was dining with his wife, Ruth, in a Hollywood restaurant, when a waiter put too much pepper on her salad. Mrs. Berle tasted it and said, \u201cHmm. Needs more salad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
James Madison<\/b><\/p>\n
In his old age, President James Madison suffered from many ailments and took a variety of medicines. It is said that a longtime friend from a nearby county sent him a box of vegetable pills, one of his own home remedies, asking to be informed if they brought relief. In time he received one of those gracious and carefully worded letters for which Madison was noted. It went something like this: \u201cMy dear friend, I thank you very much for the box of pills. I have taken them all; and while I cannot say I am better since taking them, it is quite possible that I might have been worse if I had not taken them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Be Tactful Joe had a cat he loved very much. When he went west to California on a business trip he left the cat with his brother Al and his mother. When Joe arrived in Los Angeles he called his brother and asked him how the cat was doing. Al replied bluntly, \u201cI\u2019m real sorry, … Continue reading “Tact”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}