Winning Words 10/12/11
“Friends and good manners will carry you where money won’t go.” (Margaret Walker) MW’s minister father taught her to appreciate philosophy and poetry when she was a child. She learned well and became an acclaimed writer. A line in one of her poems seems to foretell the change that has taken place since MLK, Jr. “When will I see my brother’s face wearing a different color?” ;-) Jack

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: When I think about my good friends and good manners I am deeply grateful for both. Our parents were very strict about manners and friends. They scrutinized both which resulted in children who were able to attend some extremely important parties for my dad's work. One time our whole family (5 little kids) were invited to Mr. King's home. He owned King Coffee in Detroit. My dad was a coffee salesman for King Coffee. Mr. King had a white living room, white carpeting and white furniture. Mrs. King sat us kids down on a white sofa and gave us cherry Kool-Aid. With the strict manners and God's grace, we sat there...all of us and didn't spill a drop. Mr. and Mrs. King were very good kind friends to my dad and mom and family.////FROM JACK: Here's a poem that was on the wall in our home when I was a child. "A child should always say what's true, and speak when he is spoken to, and behave mannerly at the table, at least as far as he is able." My sister didn't like it when I crossed out the he(s) and substituted she(s).

FROM GOOD DEBT JON: Amen.////FROM JACK: It's nice to see that you're in an agreeable mood today.

FROM BBC IN ILLINOIS: In quickly skimming I misread the quote as “Food and good manners”….think food is apropos too. Remember the days of, “bring a dish”?////FROM JACK: Looking at the last part of the quote, I'm choosing friends over food, but your thought is a good one. The Lions win on Monday was a "sweet" one. Thanksgiving with the Packers coming into Ford Field should be exciting.

FROM SH IN MICHIGAN: Been pondering today's WW all day here and believe they are WW. Both blacks and women must have come as far as they have come due to friends and politeness "Yes, master" and you know the attributes of the fair and gentle sex. Money hasn't contributed to the liberating of either. But maybe I'm wrong here and money did go there too. One thing I do suppose, people with good manners and also consideration of others tend to get good friends.////FROM JACK: I've read that the emancipation of the slaves had an economic reason and not just one of freeing people who were in bondage. I can imagine that giving women the right to vote (and blacks, too) was driven by some politicians adding up the numbers. Oops.....these are supposed to be Winning Words, accentuating the positive.