p. 15 | Obstinate People

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · May 20, 1915

Obstinate People

“I NEVER change my mind,” I once heard a woman say.

And from the way in which she said it she seemed to be quite proud of her attitude.

The funny part of it is that the people who never change their minds nearly always have magnified opinions of their wisdom. They would be very much upset if they realized that others, probably much better informed than themselves, considered them merely obstinate and foolish.

But they seldom, if ever, see themselves in this light; so they continue to map out their lives in the same narrow groove, until perhaps one day they wake up, and, to their amazement, find themselves left far behind people whom they looked down upon as ignorant.

“A wise man changes his mind; a fool never,” says an old proverb, and we should always keep this before us as a mental danger signal.

“She simply won’t be taught,” I have often heard people say. Don’t let anybody say it of you in future. It is the people who are always willing to learn who get on best in this world.

If we keep our minds open as well as our eyes and ears, we shall find that we are never too old to change, and that we can learn something from everybody, even if it is only what not to do.—Home Chat.