whatareyouthinking

Every now and then, Tripp had an uncanny urge to smash his left thumb with a hammer.  He never wanted to nor did this with enough force to crush the bone.  Each time he engaged in this exercise, he only did it just enough to cause some pain.  Tripp thought this action would give him a rush or an endorphin release—and it did.  But it also made his thumb hurt.  So he often found himself searching for all sorts of solutions to settle his throbbing thumb.  Mostly, he just had to wait for the pain to cease in its own time.

One day (having smashed his thumb the night before), Tripp awoke in extreme pain.  Again he tried his usual list of remedies.  But this time Tripp realized that pain was an inevitable consequence of having hammers hitting thumbs.  So he embraced the pain as long as it lasted — and avoided hammers for quite a while.

After a time of healing, Tripp’s convictions concerning the evils of hammers became so strong that he set out to campaign against them.  He wished to rid the world of not just hammers — but all household tools! 

However, after much exhaustion, he decided that others just needed to hammer these things out for themselves.   

From the time Tripp was a small child, he wanted to become a Railroad Engineer.  After Tripp finished High School, he attended Railroad Engineer School so that he could become a Railroad Engineer.  About half-way through his education, a certain manager was visiting the school and noticed Tripp’s potential for success.  Consequently, he offered Tripp a job as a Railroad Engineer with an attractive salary to start immediately.

Tripp declined the invitation saying, “I’m sorry.  I’d love to take you up on your offer, but I must finish my schooling first so that I can become a Railroad Engineer when I get out.”

Tripp went to a life-changing seminar that totally revolutionized the way he interacted with others.  The seminar encouraged him to think outside the box in every area of life.  The meetings placed a special focus on family life.  Tripp heard advice like:

• “No longer call your wife—‘wife,’ instead, call her your ‘love.’”
• “Don’t call your children by their names, instead, refer to them as your ‘beloved offspring’”
• “No longer call your home—‘home,’ instead, say, ‘special abode.’”

The seminars propogated these and other life-changing strategies that Tripp followed to the letter.  In fact, each night ,Tripp would come home and say, “Hello my love and beloved offspring.  Isn’t it wonderful that we’re all safely here together in our special abode?”

Tripp’s family was so grateful that Tripp was finally thinking outside the box and really thinking for himself.

Tripp noticed a tree in his front yard becoming quite huge.  He said to himself, “That’s not so bad, I can deal with a big tree.”

A few weeks later, Tripp’s wife noticed the size of the tree and lack of soil for its roots, so she suggested that he trim it.  Tripp said, “I’m no good at trimming trees—just leave it!”

Several months later, Tripp’s children tried to warn him of its size and how unstable the tree had become.  Tripp replied, “What do you know about trees?”

A few years passed, then Tripp’s neighbor approached him about the tree.  Tripp agreed something needed to be done, but he did not want to cut it as he was afraid to offend the birds, the squirrels, and others that had grown accustomed to the tree as it was.  Once again, Tripp refused to deal with the tree.
After a series of thunderstorms and heavy winds, the tree fell on Tripp’s house, nearly demolishing his family’s home!  Many of their belongings were also destroyed. 

So Tripp decided to move to a new house and leave everything else behind.  This time he would look for a piece of land with no potential for plant life.

Under pressure from upper management, an employer needed to do one of his least comfortable tasks.  He had to give one of his employees the old ‘shape up or ship out’ speech.  At the end of the day he called the problem employee into his office, and—not wishing to offend—said, “Tripp, you have worked here for quite some time.  Throughout our working relationship, I couldn’t help but notice that your unique skill set does not necessarily match those of the position for which you are presently employed.  Tripp, you may want to prepare yourself to seek out some other opportunities that better suit your particular talents.”

Once dismissed, Tripp raced home to tell his wife the startling news!  He said, “I just got done talking to my boss!  He told me that I’m overqualified for my job and need to prepare myself for a promotion.”

While entertaining some guests, Tripp’s wife also entertained the subjects of politics and justice.  As the dialogue grew with intensity, Tripp’s wife hastily blurted out, “Well I just think they should send everyone who does that to the chair!”  Needless to say, many of the guests were offended and informed the couple they would not be returning. Disappointed in his wife’s behavior, Tripp discussed with her the necessity of demonstrating respect for the diverse political backgrounds and experiences of the friends they invite to their home. 

After a time, Tripp and his wife begged their company’s forgiveness and requested they come again for dinner.  Eventually, the same topic of discussion arose just as it had before.  This time, however, Tripp’s wife purposed to respond differently.  She stated, “I don’t wish to offend anyone here, but I think they should send everyone who does that to the chair!”