BELIEVE ME

One day I was driving down a highway in rural New Mexico, doing a tad over the speed limit, when I saw ahead a car doing exactly the speed limit. Physics dictates a showdown.

My first thought was, "This person must be new to New Mexico." As I came closer, my "passing genes" kicked in. Positioning myself for a shot at the lead, I perceived a slight problem -- I was about to pass a police car.

My decision to pass or not to pass a police car would seem a given, but not in this case. The car in front of me was not your everyday state police, but a Navajo reservation police car. My belief told me that the reservation police do not give tickets on a federal highway -- at least that's what I thought I believed until it came time to test my belief.

Test results: I followed that car until I reached my destination. So much for the intensity of that belief!

Your new girl friend seems like an honest, open, trustworthy, reliable kind of person and you believe possibly this could be the one. The night of your fifth date she calls you on skype and tells you how much she values your opinion. She has just bought a new outfit to wear on your date tonight. You are waiting for her to get out of the clown outfit she is wearing and show you what she bought. Suddenly you realize this refugee from Barnum and Bailey is indeed wearing what she bought! "How do you think I look?" she asks. "Trust me, you can tell me anything."

Lesson: You never really know how much you believe in something until there is some risk involved in that belief.