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I was in a cab, on the way to the Jordanian city of Aqaba, and was talking with the garrulous driver when he asked me where I was from. I sat there for a second and thought about the truth. What was the truth?

I could have told him that I was from the U.S. That was true.

I could have told him that I was an Indiana boy from the northern suburbs of Indianapolis. That was even more true.

But, I decided to tell him what was the MOST true. I looked at him and said, “I’m from Israel.”

I was in a cab, on the way to the Jordanian city of Aqaba, and was talking with the garrulous driver when he asked me where I was from. I sat there for a second and thought about the truth. What was the truth?

I could have told him that I was from the U.S. That was true.

I could have told him that I was an Indiana boy from the northern suburbs of Indianapolis. That was even more true.

But, I decided to tell him what was the MOST true. I looked at him and said, “I’m from Israel.”

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Straight out of college, my first job was in high-tech sales. The sales team that I worked with was great, while I was merely average. And like all great sales teams, they worked very hard to get their ‘merely average’ member to become great. They did that by dragging me through every sales course they could find.

You can learn a lot of interesting stuff in a sales course, but I will never forget one of the most interesting bits of wisdom that I have ever heard:

“It takes ten attaboys to make up for one ‘Oh $#&%!’”

Straight out of college, my first job was in high-tech sales. The sales team that I worked with was great, while I was merely average. And like all great sales teams, they worked very hard to get their ‘merely average’ member to become great. They did that by dragging me through every sales course they could find.

You can learn a lot of interesting stuff in a sales course, but I will never forget one of the most interesting bits of wisdom that I have ever heard:

“It takes ten attaboys to make up for one ‘Oh $#&%!’”

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Talking about barbarians yesterday has gotten me thinking about barbarism.

That got me thinking about 9/11, which got me thinking about airline hijackings (skyjacking), which got me thinking about the PLO.

Capice?

Now, it’s true that the PLO didn’t invent the idea of skyjacking. People have been hijacking vehicles since the invention of the horse. People have been hijacking aircraft since 1931, when rebels skyjacked a Pan Am plane flying out of Peru.

So, no. They didn’t INVENT the idea. They just made it work as a political tool. They were the first to make it successful.

Talking about barbarians yesterday has gotten me thinking about barbarism.

That got me thinking about 9/11, which got me thinking about airline hijackings (skyjacking), which got me thinking about the PLO.

Capice?

Now, it’s true that the PLO didn’t invent the idea of skyjacking. People have been hijacking vehicles since the invention of the horse. People have been hijacking aircraft since 1931, when rebels skyjacked a Pan Am plane flying out of Peru.

So, no. They didn’t INVENT the idea. They just made it work as a political tool. They were the first to make it successful.

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