In 1998 when teaching at a college, a young lady =
who was writing a paper for my class came to me asked, "Dr Bob, =
what’s the difference between to annoy, anger and =
exasperate?"
I =
replied, "It is mostly a matter of degree. Let me show you what I =
mean."
With =
that, I went to the telephone and dialed a number at random. To the man =
who answered the phone, I said, "Hello, is Melvin =
there?"
The =
man answered, "There is no one living here named Melvin. Why don’t =
you learn to look up numbers before you dial =
them?"
"See," I shared with the young lady. =
"That man was not a bit happy with our call. He was probably very =
busy with something and we ANNOYED him. Now =
watch."
I =
dialed the number again. "Hello, is Melvin there?" I =
asked.
"Now look here!" came the heated reply. =
"You just called this number and I told you that there is no Melvin =
here! You’ve got a lot of nerve calling again!" The receiver =
slammed down hard.
Turning to the student I said, "You see, that =
was ANGER, plain and simple."
"Now I’ll show you what EXASPERATE =
means."
I =
dialed the same number, and when a violent voice roared, =
"Hello!" I calmly said, "Hello, this is Melvin. Have =
there been any calls for me?"
[adapted from “Teaching CAN be =
Fun”]
~~
Dr Bob Griffin =
[email protected] www.grif.net =
"Jesus Knows Me, This I =
Love!"