Winning Words 6/27/12
“Misery dipped in chocolate is still misery.”  (From Baby Blues)  I jotted this quote down while doing some reading last week.  It referred to how kids might feel when promised an ice cream bar if they cleaned their room.  In the business world, promises like that are called incentives.  Did I write it down, because it’s cute, or is there a deeper meaning?  I don’t see heaven or hell in that way, or do I?    ;-)  Jack

FROM RB IN MICHIGAN:  Now that is deep! What a question to pose.  Thank you for the inspiration to start the day.////FROM JACK:  Most swimming pools have a shallow end and a deep end.  Going into the deep end can be fun and exciting...when you know how to swim.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  Reminds me of the quote, "Money can't buy happiness, but it does make misery more bearable'... I think "happiness" is an "inside job", and as we age, most of us  learn, as Paul, "in whatever state I am, to be content". If not, one can become negative and complaining; Who needs that??! Embrace life with Gusto.  for as long as we can!////FROM JACK:I saw a video today of a young girl with no lower arms and no lower legs...playing rugby.  She was right there in the scrum, sweating and laughing and having a good time.

FROM ILLINOIS LIZ:  Yeah, but as Mary Poppins said, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."////FROM JACK:  I never have liked the taste of Alka-Seltzer, even with smiling "Speedy" on the front of the box. 

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Misery is still misery but I have a friend who is addicted to chocolate.  I'll send this to her to see what she says!   I bet she"ll say chocolate can cover and comfort anything. ////FROM JACK: That's why Luther didn't believe in works righteousness

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  Well...my mark and my sister genie would say that the chocolate would help the taste of misery.  I, however, would rather like my misery wrapped in a savory sauce.////FROM JACK:  I've heard that some people try to wrap their misery is "the sauce," so. be careful.
 
FROM RG IN ARIZONA:  I hesitated making my reply on your blog... I actually utilize a similar metaphor in my description of mankind's strategy to compensate for their perceived failings or flaws. I term the metaphor: the chocolate covered turd! The "turd" is the lie we tell ourselves, i.e., I am not good enough, I am unworthy, I am unloveable, I am no good, etc.. The chocolate is the effort(s) we enable to make attempts to prove otherwise. For example, one who thinks of himself as unworthy might dedicate himself to creating overwhelming worth, as if to cover the turd of unworthiness. Ylikewise, someone who considers oneself as not good enough, spends undying effort to do "good". After all, who argues with success?
  Yet, one can never do enough "good" or have enough "worth" to mask the haunting lie of unlove-ability or unworthiness one has convinced oneself actually is. No other person, who is presented with a chocolate covered turd, will take a bite or even a lick of it. It is repulsive to them, and likewise the person who thinks of oneself in this way, expends maximum effort to maintain the disguise of the chocolate covering --- in hopes that the big secret of their unworthiness can be maintained by extensive layers of chocolate!
  The chocolate really serves as the mask for others' perspective, because the turd (deceit) has to be engaged head-on, even though it is constantly avoided. However, when engaged and dealt with, the turd is eventually transformed into a fertilizer of sorts. Fertilizer and a turd is the same "stuff" but with different metaphorical representations, because it now has a different meaning. Fertilizer nourishes the soil from which new things can grow, while turds are to be avoided. (look up on YouTube: David Whyte's poem, The Faces at Braga. It is a beautiful characterization of man's creation and inner beauty so often hidden underneath our false perceptions of ourselves).
  There is a lot of value that comes from suffering....even our own salvation comes at the expense of the Christ's suffering. These perceptions of ourselves that are untrue need to die within us so that the new man (Adam) can be "born again"; just as the image and likeness of God would suggest we truly are!
////FROM JACK:  I thought about editing your response (for brevity), but believed that others might be interested in reading it in its entirety.////FROM WATERFORD JAN:  I just read some of the previous blogs and was taken by RG's response of June 27.  I'm glad you didn't edit it, despite its length.  In my brain it "sounded" like a good, brief sermon--as effective on Friday as on a Sunday.  (I'll still go to church Sunday.)