straight from the horse's mouth

Want to find out which horse will win the race? Get it straight from the horse’s mouth. It’s one step closer to the truth than from the jockey. I recently listened to a news channel ask a Catholic priest whether the civil unrest and rise in natural disasters was signaling the end-times referred to in the Holy Bible. Rather than reference the scriptures, he gave his opinion. Now whether you believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God or not, there is no doubt that this gentleman missed a perfect opportunity to look to the text. For those of you not familiar with the book of Revelation, the last canonical book of the New Testament, there is quite a bit of information regarding prophetic end-times. Too bad the priest couldn’t have cited a verse directly from there. Biographies offer the same type of “straight from the horse’s mouth” information, especially autobiographies. Who better to know what Lincoln or Patton suffered than Lincoln or Patton? So next time someone asks your opinion, skip the opining and get to the facts, i.e., the direct message of the other person. In order to accomplish this you will have to be well-read, open-minded, and of small ego. In the grand scheme of things, opinions are vastly different from truths. Wendell Phillips said, “Truth is one forever absolute, but opinion is truth filtered through the moods, the blood, the disposition of the spectator.” One way to keep your search for truth on the proverbial high road is to go directly to the source. We should be thankful so many wise greats before us have taken the time to record their words for our edification.