I Think I Am I Think I Can

When we really believe something, that something becomes a powerful force. One of my favorite stories is of George Bernard Dantzig, a student who arrived late for a statistics class and found two problems on the board that he mistook for homework. He took them home, did them and apologized to the teacher as he was a little late handing them in.

They were actually two famous unsolved problems in statistics. George Dantzig was clearly very smart. He may have still been able to solve the equations if he had been told that Einstein had not solved them. But many would conclude that not knowing they had not been solved didn't create an unnecessary hurdle to achievement....and probably helped him do it.

All of us have beliefs that would be impossible to unseat, even in the face of what others believe is convincing evidence. "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still" is an old phrase that captures the strength of a deeply embedded belief.

It makes it all the more important to believe the truth and not lies. May we strive to have our ears open to what is true and closed to what is not. And if there be any lie deeply embedded, may it be dug out, exposed and discarded.