Rules of Thumb

The older we get, the more we tend to rely upon rules of thumb.  Rules of thumb are lessons learned in life that can be succinctly stated in such a way as to provide a guidepost to live by based upon experience.  They are much the same as caricatures, only verbal.  A rule of thumb will zero in upon distinguishing or peculiar features much the same as an artist will do when drawing a caricature.

For instance, after thirty plus years in the courtroom, I came to believe in the following Rule of Thumb:  The sincerity in a good lawyer's voice increases in inverse proportion to the innocence of his client; the sincerity in a mediocre lawyer's voice is legitimate. 

Here's another courtroom Rule of Thumb that results from personal experience:  Half the requests for continuances are to put off the inevitable; half are to give the lawyer time to collect his fee; the rest are legitimate.

As you can see, Rules of Thumb are often concocted with a combination of experience, sarcasm, and exaggeration, much like a drawn caricature (the Serling eyebrows, the Hope ski nose, the Bush close set eyes, etc). 

What gave me the idea for this post was my discovery this morning of a neat website which I found so intriguing and enjoyable that I pass it on to you here: 

                           http://www.rulesofthumb.org/ 

It contains Rules of Thumb galore, separated into a large number of specific categories.  You can easily and freely register, after which you can post Rules of Thumb and comment/rate other people's Rules.  There are some good life lessons there, plus some that you will think miss the mark.  Although I wouldn't normally promote a particular website, this was one that I thought would really appeal to the typical blogster.