Paul's Aphorisms

This page reveals some bits of wisdom that Wikidelphia editor Paul has learned by living, observing, listening, and reading:

• You can always put more clothes on, but you can only take so many off.

Thus, I have always liked winter better than summer.

• Age is not an excuse.

Your age does not excuse you from doing anything. "I'm too old for this," is never true. Something more specific, however, may be true, e.g., "My body is too out of shape for me to do this today."

• A problem well defined is half solved.

When I took a year of systems analysis courses in college, I learned that systems analysis included an extensive initial phase of investigation. The idea was to go into great detail to define the problem accurately and completely. Only then, when the problem was fully defined, did we proceed to think about design and development. That's when you're ready for success.

• Where there's God's will, there's a way.

For about a decade, I produced a radio show about poverty, and when the show hit hard times, I said to myself, "Where there's God's will, there's a way", and then I just kept on trying to find whatever that way was. It worked every time. People say, "Where there's a will, there's a way", but circumstances can defeat an individual's self-willed efforts.

• I am what I am, and that's all. Labeling oneself is not conducive to maximum happiness.

I reject "identity". Labels are useful conveniences for certain kinds of discussion, but when I speak carefully, I don't use them. Examples:

• Speaking loosely, I'll say, "I'm staff editor for Wikidelphia", but when I speak carefully, I'll say, "I help maintain Wikidelphia". See? I dump the "to be" and replace it with an active verb.
• I refuse to make an "identity" out of my sexual preferences, so I may say, "I have desires for ____," or, "I get hot for ____," but I won't say, "I'm a _____sexual". After all, how much time--how much of my life--is actually devoted to sexual behavior? A small percentage indeed! My life consists of much more than that! If you say, "I'm a ___sexual," and call it your "identity" and "who I am", then I get the impression that your sexual preference is life-consuming (until I see evidence to the contrary).
• Speaking loosely, I'll say, "I'm __ years old," but speaking carefully, I'll say, "I've lived __ years".
• Maybe I'd like to say, "I'm a Christian," but I can't even say that, because it's up to God to judge whether I really make the grade, so all I can say is, "I try (and often fail) to live like a real Christian", or, "I hope my behavior will set a good example and inspire people to think, 'There's a godly man!'"

I originally learned the "I am what I am" idea from Theodore Isaac Rubin's book, Compassion and Self-Hate. I originally learned about "to be" from A Guide to Rational Living by Albert Ellis, whose entire book omits "to be" (including "is", "am", "are", etc.), thus exemplifying a slight variant of English called "E-Prime".

• The Sexual Revolution is the mother of all social problems.

When I first could drink alcohol legally, I had a short-lived, easily depleted interest in going to bars. One of the regulars at my local haunt tried to persuade me to abandon God's Word on sex. This was some decades ago, when the Revolution was relatively young. I decided to make a page of Pro's and Con's. So I did some research. Wanting the truth and to think logically, I was very willing to list items on both sides. When I was done, the Con list had grown way longer than the Pro list. Don't get me wrong; I haven't always followed God's Word in my actions, but I don't try to justify certain things I did. Now that I've had a few decades for further observations and the acquisition of wisdom, I have no doubt that if the Pro's and Con's were weighed in a balance, the Con side would so outweigh the Pro that the resulting fall would make a hole in the floor. Yes, there are other causes, but sexual immorality has been the first cause of so many serious, painful, expensive, and even lethal problems that the Sexual Revolution looks to me like an unmitigated, all-encompassing disaster. Over and over, as the years go by, I see more and more evidence that humankind has truly been robbed! Like Esau, people have given up much in exchange for very little. When the Creator gave us rules about sex, He wasn't just being "puritanical" and spoiling our fun; those rules are needed for humans to thrive, flourish, and achieve our maximum potential. For example, my church, a congregation of Bible believers, is fully loaded with happy, highly accomplished people who have very few self-inflicted problems.