Furmanifesto

There are two things that can happen when you use a bad word in front of a child.  The first is the worst: the child hears this new word, and then goes around using it as much as they can, especially in the checkout line of the grocery store…

or when grandparents come over to visit.

The second thing that can happen is that the child recognizes that you’ve used the word and they decide to tell on you.  Unfortunately this doesn’t usually happen right when you say it.  The kid usually brings it up about 4 days later, when you’ve forgotten that you said it.

Last Christmas I used the “s-word” in front of my niece.

She’s almost 4.

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Photo: Josh Plueger

My wife and I hosted an African pastor in our home about two years ago.  He was incredibly funny and intelligent; he was also massive, 6 foot 3 and about 230 lbs.  Not only was he big, he was also fearless.  His life was lived outdoors in a bush country filled with snakes and lions

 He arrived at our house late and went to bed. My wife told him that breakfast would be at 8 AM and that we would see him in the morning.  At 7:59 he came cruising down the staircase for breakfast, but when he got to bottom step he squealed like a little girl and just about broke his own legs trying to run back up the stairs on his hands and feet.

My wife and I were shocked and I had to go up and get him to come down to eat.  He wouldn’t come downstairs because he had seen something in our house that terrified him.

 He saw our beagle lying in front of the fireplace.

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We all enjoy having choices, because of this many successful businesses will allow consumers to have some say over process and product.  This isn’t something that is easy for a company to do, but they’re willing to do it because they know that it produces results:

Burger King offers The Whopper their way because they believe that this is the way that it tastes best.  They are also willing to take the additional time and effort to make it your way because they want you to not only purchase their burger, but also return to purchase more burgers over time.

They’re willing to set some preferences aside in order to develop a long-term relationship with you.

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