Thanks to a wise person on Face Book, I’ve finally found my favorite quote, and here it is… “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”  Dr. Seuss.  

Coming from a Adventist cultural heritage of only nonfictional reading, I find it no wonder I was not allowed to read books like “The Cat in the Hat”…  so silly and frivolous; everyone knows animals don’t talk, eggs aren’t green… and ham? Well, we wont go there…

Here is another one… “It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool- than to speak up and remove all doubt.”  I grew up with this phrase as the basis of my dubious love/hate roller-coaster of confidence and self doubt.  And now as an adult trying to figure out my complex self, I’ve discovered that it was Aberham Lincoln who originally said these words! Wow, this was a little shocking to me, I had to think this one through…  

I’m confident that old Abe didn’t mean this quippy phraise to be used to shut people up and stifle creative thought.   I give everyone the benefit of the doubt; so perhaps he came up with it out of his own insecurities and inability to communicate what he was thinking at a given time… I know that’s how I am;  I’m by no means stupid nor oblivious to the concerns of those around me; I just sometimes have a hard time accessing my brain at the appropriate times. 

Quips are odd and unplanned, yet useally precise and to the point.  Sometimes they flow out of me as if I were always in total control of the situation; at other times I waste a perfectly good opportunity with only a blank stare…  

One winter while strolling through a clothing store, I had a colorful green and blue stripe scarf jump off the rack and into my cart.  I couldn’t figure out why I liked it so much, but I had to buy it!  Later my sister complimented me on my “Dr. Seuss scarf”…  Yes!  That’s what it was-  bold, silly and frivolous, free from all doubt… I still love to wear it… It makes me feel good and smile inside.

Eloyce