Don't be such a tool

To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail. Abraham Maslow

So many people keep just one tool in their hand and most often it is the wrong tool. I love the way Maslow phrases the thought behind today's quote. And it's unfortunate that I can immediately think of several people who fit this description. They have chosen to take up a hammer, and only a hammer, and everything they say or do is a hard hit meant to drive deep. It's not in my personality to behave that way nor even appreciate those who do behave that way. Here's your warning, in case you care, if you are someone who behaves like a hammer and treats everyone as a nail to hit I have zero respect for you. Nor do I care to interact with you much at all. Nobody, even the person behaving like a hammer, wants to be around someone who "hits" them every time there is interaction!
We behave like a hammer every time we "hit" someone for their opinions that differ from ours, their beliefs that differ from ours, their career that differs from ours, their look (fashion, style, etc) that differs from ours, etc etc. I think you get my point. Certainly we are going to differ on many things, but when discussing those difference don't let a hammer be the tool that defines your behavior.
What tool would best describe your interactions with others? (Be honest, after all you are the only one who will know the answer!)

Comments

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.

A dime a dozen

"It's said that in the year 1796, the first U.S. dimes were produced for circulation. Hence, it would make sense for this phrase to originate sometime after." Read more here . Today the phrase carries the meaning that something is cheap or without value if it can be lumped in with other similar or exactly-like things. It's more of an insult than anything.

Life according to van Gogh...sort of

There are two ways of thinking about painting, how not to do it and how to do it; how to do it -- with much drawing and little color; how not to do it -- with much color and little drawing. Vincent van Gogh in a l etter to Theo van Gogh, April 1882 Life is a little bit like today's quote from van Gogh. Some of us live life focusing on the drawing - the details - and have very little color. Others of us go for the color and forsake, to a degree, the drawing - the details. Unlike painting, according to van Gogh, one is not wrong over the other but somewhere in between the two would be the best I would think. If you look at some of van Gogh's paintings I feel like you can see where he might have struggled between the "how to do it" and the " how not to do it" (as he admittedly loved color so much but knew he had to focus more on the drawing) and that seems to be reflected in his life as well. In the end he wasn't able to find the ...

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