“I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
Honestly, I have never understood why so many people get so angry about paying taxes. I
think it sometimes shows a lack of gratitude for the country we live in (USA).
If you get angry about paying taxes, explain it to me, ok? But, don’t get all angry about it!
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“Any married man should forget his mistakes. No reason to have two people remembering the same thing.” – Duane Dewel
I am lucky to have a bad memory for certain things, it helps me avoid anger, resentment, bitterness, the ‘what ifs’ and all sorts of other things. But it also keeps me from having great memories of some of my kids childhood special moments or
special moments with my wife. I like the first part since it keeps me happier. I don’t like the second part because remembering those things would make me happier still.
It also keeps me from remembering the things that other people found hurtful or angered them for some reason. Where I have violated or done someone wrong. They remember it, but I don’t. I mean, sometimes I do, but it is in a back closet and I forget about it most of the time. Sometimes it was such a small thing in my mind that I never would consider someone else would remember it, much less remember it myself.
It is good for me to realize that my wife remembers things and it affects her emotionally. I don’t need to have the same emotion and I don’t have to have the memory as close to the surface as she does. But I do need to know that it is in her memory bank and it matters.
I can’t take that memory away from her, I can’t let it go for her. My job is just to be smart enough to know that just because I forget things, doesn’t mean they didn’t happen and doesn’t mean they didn’t have consequences.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“All anger stems from fear.” – Anonymous
This quote engendered a lot of debate when I first drew the napkin back in 2000. My daughters and friends all got into thinking this through. Is it really true? I tend to think it is.
The key is to take the question far enough back from the anger.
For example, Here is a statement; ‘I am angry because my husband didn’t come home on time.’ How is that rooted in fear? Well, perhaps the wife is worried (fear) that something happened to him, an accident. Perhaps she is anxious (fear) that he is having an affair. Perhaps she is upset because some dinner plans are now delayed. Because they are delayed she fears that the people they have made the dinner plans will be angry themselves, or inconvenienced or…..
You get the point. so, as an exercise do this. Think about what last made you angry. And step it back until you can find the root of fear that led to the anger. It might take one step, it might take 20, who knows. Maybe you won’t find it, but I bet you will.
Share with us if you come up with any interesting revelations about this.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“If ants are such busy workers, how come they have time to go to all the picnics?” – Marie Dressler
We all know the answer to this. It’s because they are on a working vacation! It’s their version of a conference in Maui or Nassau. They bring home lots of swag, probably a story about how co-worker Betty fell in the beer can and the boss suffocated in between the layers of a ham sandwich. Most importantly they brought home the bacon for the family.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.” – Seneca
Our fear of the difficult is the difficulty. I know it is with me. I spend this non-thinking time bouncing around doing this and that until I finally realize I am avoiding some task because I am worried it will be too difficult. EVEN IF I have done incredibly more complex tasks in that same arena of effort before.
So, why am I thinking I can’t do this new, simpler task? Because I am not sure how I did the first one. I look at some of my old animation projects, my old drawings and paintings and I say ‘I wonder who did that, that’s pretty incredible!’. Then I remember I did it and think ‘sheesh, I don’t know how I did that, I wonder if I could do it again’.
The truth is though that I always have been able to do it again, to rise to the occasion, to move beyond my doubts and achieve what I want to achieve. You can too, you just need to take the step onto the tightrope. Without that first step, you can’t go anywhere.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“Illness is the most heeded of Doctors: to goodness and wisdom we only make promises; pain we obey.” – Marcel Proust
This is in honor of my brother-in-law, Tom, who had a ruptured appendix on the ski slopes of Colorado yesterday. He couldn’t make it down the hill on his own after a fall, the pain being too severe at that point.
He spent two hours in surgery and they believe his is going to make a full recovery, but not before a big scare, lots of pain and a 5-7 day stay in the hospital.
This quote is true, but the further truth is that those promises to goodness and wisdom are often only made when we are in the middle of that severe pain we have to obey!
A big shout out to Bruce Hansen, undergoing chemo for cancer in Boston. His cancer is
in his neck, which is in Boston along with the rest of him and his wife Heidi. If you
know him, wish him well. If you don’t, wish someone else well.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“Creativity is a learning process where the teacher and pupil are within the same individual.” – Arthur Koestler
If you aren’t willing to teach yourself then you are at the mercy of what other people
want to teach you, what they think is important. If you teach yourself you are in
charge.
Take charge. Be your own student and your own teacher. That way you will always be
getting a new degree!
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“Coincidences Are Spiritual Puns.” – G. K . Chesterton
But they make me smile more than verbal puns.
By the way, the best explanation for coincidences ever rendered by the mind of man is
found in the movie ‘Repo Man’. Check out the ‘Plate of Shrimp’ scene to be taught by
the master.
If you watch the scene, remember from here on out you will be compelled to use the
phrase ‘plate of shrimp’ whenever such a thing happens.
You are now being returned to your broadcast channel…
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“We only confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld
French author & moralist (1613 – 1680)
I got busted stealing 5 cents worth of bubble gum when I was 14 years old. I got
pulled into the back of ‘Stoler’s Five and Dime’ by Mr. Stoler. In the time it took me
to walk back there I had already figured out what I was going to say, that it was my
very first time EVER to steal anything and I would never do it again…yada yada
yada. My second thought was that that was way to obvious and I am sure every other
kid who ever got caught by Mr. Stoler said the same thing. So, sure enough the very
first question he asked was ‘Have you ever stolen before?’. I answered ‘Yes’. That
was the truth. He then asked, ‘Have you ever stolen from this store before?’. I
answered ‘No’. That was a lie.
The police were called and I was brought down to the police station, no joke. The
policeman gave me the stink eye and made me feel I would be selling pencils on the
street corner the rest of my life, my sin had been so great. He also said Mr. Stoler
ALWAYS prosecutes. Gulp!
They called my father who came down and got me. When he arrived the police brought us
into a room and sat us down. He said that Mr. Stoler was NOT going to press charges
after all. My father asked why and the policeman said it was because I was the very
first kid Mr. Stoler had ever caught who admitted to having stolen before. Wow, my
instincts were right! I had made the right choice.
However, I don’t know if the next answer was the right choice or not, to lie about
stealing from his store. But I do know that admitting to the ‘little’ fault of
stealing before probably persuaded him I didn’t have a ‘larger’ one of stealing from
him.
My father, on the way home jokingly said ‘You know, if you were going to get caught
stealing something, couldn’t you have chosen something that was worth stealing, like a
TV or something?’
I did buy a TV once that was a real steal, but that was the last thing I ever stole.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“The pursuit of happiness is no laughing matter.” – Anonymous
This is an oxymoron in action but is it true? Do we have to be serious about our pursuit of happiness? Who is happier in life, the true pursuer who is deliberate about it all, or the happy-go-lucky sort who doesn’t have a care in the world?
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Hey all you Napkin Kin! Just wanted to let you know you are in good company recently. Over the past week The Napkin Dad Daily has been visited by people from 122 cities in 26 different countries on every continent. Well, ok, not Antartica, but they visited before I think!
Some of the cooler city names I had not heard of before include:
Timosoara, Romania
Macerata, Italy
Xinyang, China
Nelson, New Zealand
Providencia, Chile
Suita, Japan
Jahor Bahru, Malaysia
Thanks everyone for visiting. Don’t forget you can subscribe and get it every day.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
