Pitch for Teamwork
Ten Most Dramatic Sounds
Oliver Cromwell
Even Temperament
The Dachshund
Topic : Emotion
Jonathan Edwards
In 1746 Jonathan Edwards published a book, The Religious Affections, in which he argued that “true religion must consist very much in the affections,” Edwards saw that one of the chief works of Satan was
“…to propagate and establish a persuasion that all affections and sensible emotions of the mind, in things of religion, are nothing at all to be regarded, but are rather to be avoided and carefully guarded against, as things of a pernicious tendency. This he knows is the way to bring all religion to a mere lifeless formality, and effectually shut out the power of godliness, and everything which is spiritual and to have all true Christianity turned out of doors.”
Edwards went on to say,
“As there is no true religion where there is nothing else but affection, so there is no true religion where there is no religious affection If the great things of religion are rightly understood, they will affect the heart This manner of slighting all religious affections is the way exceedingly to harden the hearts of men, and to encourage them in their stupidity and senselessness, and to keep them in a state of spiritual death as long as they live and bring them at last to death eternal.”
Pitch for Teamwork
In a speech before regional community leaders in Kingsport, Tennessee, Ernie Deavenport, chairman and CEO of Eastman Chemical Company, made a pitch for cooperation and teamwork between his company and the community leaders. To highlight his message, he told this story about a Little League coach:
At one point during a game, the coach said to one of his young players, “Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is'
The little boy nodded in the affirmative.
“Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?”
The little boy nodded yes.
“So,” the coach continued, “when a strike is called, or you’re out at first, you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?”
Again, the little boy nodded.
“Good,” said the coach. “Now go over there and explain it to your mother.”
Ten Most Dramatic Sounds
A group of motion-picture engineers classified the following as the ten most dramatic sounds in the movies: a baby’s first cry; the blast of a siren; the thunder of breakers on rocks; the roar of a forest fire; a foghorn; the slow drip of water; the galloping of horses; the sound of a distant train whistle; the howl of a dog; the wedding march.
And one of these sounds causes more emotional response and upheaval than any other, has the power to being forth almost every human emotion: sadness, envy, regret, sorrow, tears, as well as supreme joy. It is the wedding march.
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell, who took the British throne away from Charles I and established the Commonwealth, said to a friend, “Do not trust to the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you and I were going to be hanged.”
Even Temperament
Persons who have uneven temperaments appear to have a much greater chance of developing serious illness and of dying young than do those with other temperaments,
Drs. Barbara J. Betz and Caroline B. Thomas report in the Johns Hopkins Medical Journal. In 1948, Betz and Thomas classified 45 Johns Hopkins medical students in three personality groups on the basis of psychological tests and questionnaires. The students were listed either as “alphas,” described as cautious, reserved, quiet and undemanding; “betas,” spontaneous, active and outgoing; or “gammas,” moody, emotional and either over-or under-demanding.
Thirty years later, Betz and Thomas looked at the health records of the former students. They found that 77.3 percent of the gamma group suffered from major disorders, including cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease and emotional disturbances. The incidence of disorders was only 25 percent in the alpha group and 26.7 percent in the betas. The doctors repeated the study on another group of 127 male students from the classes of 1949 through 1964 with similar results. “Too often, gamma people get lost in their own emotions,” says Betz. “While a person’s temperament cannot be changed, more support from outside sources—such as more human contacts—might help lessen a gamma’s risk of disease.”
The Dachshund
There was a dachshund once so long
He hadn’t any notion
How long it took to notify
His tail of an emotion.
And so it happened, while his eyes
Were full of woe and sadness,
His little tail went wagging on
Because of previous gladness.
