I failed this really simple riddle

try out this riddle with people you know…

We were sitting at the breakfast table (well actually it was an everything table). My dad has always been a fan of riddles and any type of brain challenges. This particular morning, he arrived at the table with a pencil, pen and a paper. His 12 year old son, me at the time, was just about to get schooled.

He drew a vertical line and asked me, “How will you make this line smaller?” So I took the No. 2 pencil, used the orange rubbery end and began erasing the line.

The second time he took a pen, drew the same type of line and asked “Now, how will you make this line smaller?” I took the pen and scratched away half of the line.

“Well that wasn’t so hard. It is shorter now because I erased it and I scratched it off,” I proclaimed as I completed the challenge.

Now the 3rd time he drew the line again. “Now make the line smaller, but this time without touching it.” “What?”, I questioned at the absurd thought. After a few minutes of crunching my brain cells, I gave up.

“How about this”, he continued. He took the pen and drew a bigger line next to the original line. Presto! Magic! That line is smaller!

All this time I was putting so much effort towards making the line smaller, when I could have, with minimal effort, drawn a bigger line!

Here’s what my dad taught me:

“If you want to be a person recognized for high moral character, you don’t have to try to MAKE someone else smaller, you just have to act bigger.” — Dad

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I’m a passionate coach who loves helping people and organizations achieve powerful and lasting change.