Confused? 6 Ideas to Help

I recently read a story about a young man whose summer job in 1960 was as a substitute driver for an ice cream truck. On his first day, after serving the many children gathered around his truck, he found a large dog in the driver’s seat. His attempts to remove the dog were fruitless, so he came up with a plan to coax the dog out of the truck. He offered the dog an ice cream cone. The plan worked - apparently, the dog loved ice cream. Everyone was happy with the solution.

The next day, to his dismay, the same thing happened: the dog jumped into the driver’s seat. Once again, the young man tempted the dog away with ice cream, and once again, the dog accepted. Even so, the driver was puzzled by the events

On his third day when he arrived, there was an adult in the crowd with the “seat-stealing dog” beside him. When he got out of the truck, the man said, “I thought something was something wrong. You are not the regular driver. You see, there is a quarter taped under his collar for the ice cream.” Reminisce magazine, July 16, 2016, pg. 40-41.

This delightful little story can teach us six important lessons about life, the things that puzzle us, and the solutions we need.

1. Things are not always what they seem:

The blackmailing dog was actually a paying customer. When you first encounter a confusing situation, don’t believe the first explanation you create. There are many ways to interpret and understand an event, interaction, or situation. Most of the

time we need more information about what is happening.