I want to tell you a story this morning about this woman who went out and bought herself a parrot. This woman’s name was Erma, and Erma wanted in the worst way to have a bird that talked. She went to the pet store and selected what was a pretty costly bird. She took the bird home and waited for it to speak. Nothing happened. So she went to the pet shop and told the storekeeper that the bird didn’t talk. “Well,” said the man, “Why don’t you take home this mirror and put it in the bird’s cage? They like to look at themselves and sometimes that helps them talk. Home she went to give the mirror a try.

A few days later she was back at the store again. “The mirror didn’t work,” she announced with her jaw a little tense. “Okay,” said the pet store owner, “Why don’t you take this bell and hang it…