Behavior Versus Interpretation

Use the following letter to emphasize the difference between behavior and inference.  Have people describe the behavior (upon which everyone agrees) and contrast the inferences that Grandma makes with the inferences that other people make.  Grandma writes:

Dear Sonny,

The other day I drove to a local Christian bookstore and saw a 'Honk If You Love Jesus' bumper sticker. I was feeling kind of sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance followed by a thunderous prayer meeting. So I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper. Boy am I glad I did!! What an uplifting experience that followed!

I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good He is, and I didn't notice the light had changed. It's a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn't honked, I would've never noticed. I found that lots of people love Jesus. While I was sitting there, the guy behind me started honking like crazy. He leaned out the window and screamed "For the love of God, GO! GO! Jesus Christ, GO!! What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus.

Everyone started honking. I just leaned out my window and started smiling and waving to all those loving people. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love. There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a 'sunny beach'.

I saw another guy waving with only his middle finger in the air. I asked my teenage grandson, in the back seat, what that meant. He said it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something. Well, I've never met a person from Hawaii before so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back. My grandson burst out laughing. Apparently he was enjoying this religious experience too.

A couple of people were so caught up in the moment of joy, they got out of their cars and started to approach me. I thought they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended.

This is when I noticed the light had changed so I smiled and waved at all my brothers and sisters and drove through the intersection. I noticed my car was the only one that made it through the intersection before the light changed again. I felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared, so I slowed the car down, leaned out the window and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time before I drove away.

Love,

Grandma