How We Understand

Here's a quote I read somewhere and recently recovered in my sketch book. It seems to summarize some of my hunches about how the message of green has the potential to remain ineffective when the persuasive takes over:

A yeshiva boy - a young man studying in a rabbinical college - took instruction from three rabbis. A friend asked him his reactions.

"The first I found very difficult, disorganized, and poorly explained, but I understood what he was saying. The second was a lot clearer, and much more clever. I understood part of that."

"And the third? They say he is very good."

"Oh. He was brilliant! Such a magnificent, resonant voice - it flowed as if from the heart. I was transported to realms beyond my imagining! So articulate, so lucid - and I didn't understand a word."

And yes, in case you were wondering, the most persuasive of them all has gone green.