This has happened to me again and again. I'm sitting in some huge meeting with hundreds of the Lord's people representing churches across our state or country. A large number of preachers are in the audience. The speaker is sounding forth on some subject of importance to us all.
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Suddenly, the speaker comes out with a statement that gets a hearty "amen," something that sounds profound and undergirds the point he is making. He goes on in the message and everyone in the room but one person stays with him. Me, I'm stuck at that statement. Where did he get that, I wonder. Is it true? How can we know?
If "Facebook," that wonderful and exasperating social networking machine, has taught us anything, it's to distrust percentages and question quotations.
Yesterday, I noticed a Facebook friend's profile contained a quote from President Kennedy. I happen to know the quote and while I cannot prove JFK never uttered those words--how could we prove that about anyone saying anything--I know how the line got attached to the Kennedys. It's a quotation from a George Bernard Shaw play.
"Some see things as they are and ask 'Why?' I see things that never were and ask 'Why not?'"
In 1968, at the funeral of his brother Robert F. Kennedy, Senator Ted Kennedy spoke that line as applying to him. It's a terrific depiction of vision. I expect for most of us, it was our first time to hear the quote. As I recall, the source was not given in the oration, which may have led some to believe Senator Kennedy made it up.
