Survey Says!

When I was in third grade I remember a lesson that has never left me.  It had nothing to do with reading, writing or arithmetic.  It was a lesson about surveys.

Mrs. Craig asked a question to the whole class, I can't remember the question, it may have been about science or math for all I remember.  She asked for a show of hands as to what we thought the answer was.  Everyone agreed on the same answer... except my friend George.

I looked at George and was flabbergasted that he didn't come up with the same answer that the rest of the class had.  Mrs. Craig asked if he wanted to stick with his answer and he did while insisting he was right.  Right?  How could George be right if the entire rest of the class disagreed with him?  Some of us were laughing at his stupidity.  I looked at him with eyes that begged him from across the room to change his answer because he was going to be made fun of by us all when Mrs. Craig revealed that he was the only one that was wrong.  But George stuck with his answer.

George was right.

I don't remember the answer or the question, but I do remember that George was right and the rest of the class was wrong.  Mrs. Craig commended George for not only being right but more for sticking with what he knew to be right even when the rest of us mocked him.

There's not a whole lot I remember from 3rd grade other than multiplication charts and that surveys don't prove much.

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan that I read today two out of three men agreed that helping a robbery victim wasn't worth it.  As I read the book of Judges I saw the phrase, "everyone did what was right in their own eyes."  That phrase is followed by idolatry, murder, gang rape and other atrocities.

Popular opinion doesn't decide what is right.

"Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." Matthew 7:13

When I was eight I learned a life lesson.  Surveys can tell you how many people agree with you and you may all be right or wrong; don't base your thinking on surveys, base your thinking on truth.

There are many truths in life that are not popular.  Don't be fooled into thinking that popular means correct.  There are many hard things that must be done and we must swim against the current to do them.  Surveys make for fun game shows, but they are poor road maps for life.  Love the truth and hold on to it even if you're the only one doing that today.