Many of God's children feel that they are not exerting a feather's weight of influence upon others, or making a dent in the bastions of evil. Not so. How powerful is the cumulative influence for good which emanates from the obscurest of God's children!
 
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The space ship Mariner II made big headlines when it completed its thirty-six -million-mile trip toward Venus. Until then, we did not know very much about our closest neighbor.

Most of us have forgotten that Mariner II had a forerunner, Mariner I, which attempted the same journey through space about 2 years before. What happened that time?
Well, there was nothing wrong with Mariner I. It was just as close to perfect as the scientists could make it. But when it was launched, it went off course and missed Venus by tens of thousands of miles. Why?

It seems that in typing out the electronic instructions to the missile, someone left out a hyphen. That meant that the signals were off by one electronic impulse. And, of course, the missile behaved--or misbehaved--in accordance with the faulty instructions.
Damage? The project was held up for two years--and eighteen million taxpayer's dollars were wasted. That's what a hyphen can cost!