STOOP AND DRINK

Be humble to learn and ye shall attain knowledge.

Albert Einstein once arrived in London carrying his violin. After greeting him, an old friend asked, "You still play the violin, Albert?"

The mathematical genius nodded and said, "Yes, but not very well. My teacher says, 'The trouble with you, Mr. Einstein, is that you can't count.'"

He knew that he had much to learn if he were to play the violin well. So he approached his endeavor with a sense of humility, even to the point of laughing at his poor rhythm.

I heard of a hotel that has a water fountain in the lobby that is operated by an infra-red beam of light. When a thirsty person wants a drink, she simply bends down and the water automatically
turns on. There is a sign above the water cooler that reads, "Stoop and drink."

What a marvelous parable for a life attitude. Stoop and drink. Especially when drinking from the fountain of knowledge -- stoop and drink. Like Albert Einstein, wise people know that they can
only learn something new AFTER they realize two important points:
1) They do not yet know it all, and 2) There are others willing to teach. It is an attitude of humility...we stoop in order to drink.

One man says, "Every person I work with knows something better than me. My job is to listen long enough to find it and use it." He is not always the teacher. He figuratively stoops before his
employees by listening carefully to their ideas so he might drink from their knowledge.

Everyone we will ever meet knows something better than us -- our children and our parents; the woman who drives the bus and the receptionist who answers the telephone; the man who sweeps the floor and our neighbor next door. Those who realize that all the world has something to teach will never run short of opportunities to stoop and drink. And they will always be refreshed.

From LifeSupport.