Osler's Razor

Yesterday, I was over at Barnes and Nobles and noticed a bunch of chairs set up. As I often do in those situations, I sat down in one to see what would happen. Almost all the other people sitting there were elementary school kids.

After a while, an older man with white hair came to the front of the room. The parents murmured and there was that sense of excitement that the kids picked up on, even if they didn't know why. I didn't know the man, but for whatever reason he walked over to me and shook my hand, and then another man's, and then he started to speak.

I may have been the only person in Waco never to have heard Grant Teaff speak. It was fascinating, though. He talked to the kids like they were adults, but with a message they would understand. There was not a hint of condescension in what he said, but great conviction.

Like most good speakers, his basic message was simple but sharp: He told the kids they needed to have balance in their lives. He got to this by asking them how many of them watched lots of tv. It was surprising how excitedly many of the kids responded to this, yelling out how many hours of television they watch. They seemed to think that Grant Teaff was going to tell them to watch lots of television. In the end, he told them that the amount of tv they watch should be no more than the amount each day that they spend reading and playing outside.

It made a lot of sense, and it made me think about the balance in my own life. What part of the equation is missing? I suspect that I am a little out of balance these days, and it is not from watching too much television.