I once took a media communications course in which I discovered an interesting example of the way the mind works.

As part of a given lesson, a videotape was shown of a televised newscast during which a journalist was about to give a live report on a forest fire that was devastating the mid-west.

The news anchor in the television newsroom said: “We now take you to Sally Smith — she’s in the station’s helicopter flying above the scene of the fire.” He then turned around to face the background screen, which gave a live bird’s-eye view of the raging fire, and asked: “Sally, tell us, how big is the fire?”

In a voice partially drowned by the whizzing sound of helicopter blades, Sally reports: “John, it’s so big, it’s covering well over 140 acres of land — that’s about 200 football fields back-to-back for you and me.”

What is this telling you?

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