Winning Words 5/12/10
“If you behave like a doormat, expect to be stepped on and don’t complain about it.” (Suzette Haden Elgin) I saw some ads for personalized doormats: Welcome! Just Don’t Expect Much---I Am Not Your Doormat---Welcome! You Open The Wine & I’ll Cut The Cheese---Oh No!! Not You Again…Warning! My Dog Can’t Hold His Licker. How would you design a doormat for your house? ;-) Jack

FROM HS IN MICHIGAN: Then how shall I behave? BEHAVE LIKE A DOORMAT: welcome others into your home! FROM JACK: That's a good suggestion, but sometimes easier said than done. Actions speak louder than words.

FROM RI IN BOSTON: "Don't just wipe your shoes...remove them." FROM JACK: Our children have adopted the custom of removing their shoes when entering the house, although they didn't learn it at home. Do you have that custom in your home? It's a good one. Of course we're writing about something different than Nikes. MORE FROM RI: We do remove our shoes at the door, something that came from Hiroko's culture. Initially it was a matter of cleanliness, but it followed that walking about without shoes is also healthy for the feet, so we benefited that way too. In the house we walk with bare feet or slippers. Mori has followed in the habit, and then his wife adopted the manner too. Now when we go to the in-laws home we find everyone's shoes in the vestibule, and using slippers or stockings inside the home. Other friends have begun the custom too...it seems to be spreading. FROM JACK: Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

FROM GOOD DEBT JON: Ours says "Home of a Proud Army Family". My son has been in Iraq for 6 weeks. FROM JACK: I remember when you first told of his decision to enter the Army and how proud you were of him. The son of a friend of mine will soon be leaving for Afghanistan with the Special Services. We are proud of those who are making sacrifices (that we often take for granted) for us.

FROM SH IN MICHIGAN: Welcome, pardon the clutter - we live here. FROM JACK: I like it.

FROM HAWKEYE GS: Welcome to HAWKEYELAND. FROM JACK: If the mat fits.... It does!

FROM ML IN ILLINOIS: i'd like a "lillypad" FROM JACK: How appropriate!

FROM MT IN PHILADELPHIA: ...and then there's the doormat that says, simply: "Go Away!" (Amusing, but not what I would want!) FROM JACK: An angel might be turned away, unawares.

FROM DMF IN MINNESOTA: I like it better when the comments enlighten the meaning of the WW, instead of being used as a launching pad for something totally different. FROM JACK: I expect to be stepped on once in a while.

FROM PRDC IN KANSAS: This reminds me of experiences during the tense 70s. As campus ministers we felt we had to be bridges with people 'walking' over us from both sides. FROM JACK: ...to be a bridge over troubled waters. CLARIFICATION FROM DC: Whoops! I misquoted our sayings. We felt like bridges being walked over from both sides.

FROM MOLINER CF: Don't tread on me FROM JACK: Or....Come in for my tea party.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: "May you be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out!"
Deuteronomy 25:6 FROM JACK: Sounds like a winner.

FROM LIZ IN ILLINOIS: I have one inside the garage to the house that says, "Go Away." It was a gift.

FROM MO IN ILLINOIS: WELCOME! FAITH, FRIENDS AND FAMILY THE TRIPLE "F" OF LIFE!!! Or is that just too lame?! FROM JACK: I remember hearing people called lame brains. I don't think your version of "lame" was in the vocabulary at that time.