Winning Words 8/3/10
“On a long enough timeline, the survival rate drops to zero.” (Chuck Palahniuk) I guess that this is what you’d call, a truism. Some people avoid talking about death, because they consider it to be morbid. The writer of Ecclesiastes (chapter 3) puts in the proper perspective: “There’s a time to be born, and a time to die…a time to weep, and a time to laugh…a time mourn, and a time to dance.” ;-) Jack

FROM DRLP IN MICHIGAN: That is a principle of survival analysis in statistics... if you live long enough then will eventually happen. Interestingly, since the event of interest in such an analysis is not necessarily death, there are clever models about competing risks and cures. FROM JACK: It sounds as though you know something about stats. The idea of infinity has always intrigued me. MORE FROM DRLP: Though morbid, I found it interesting that death can sometimes be seen as a competing risk.

FROM SG IN TAMPA: Thy will be done. That's why we have to do our best every day.We've all lived long enough to know what can and does happen so quickly, or sometimes slowly. FROM JACK: I've said before that I like Jim Croce's song, "Time in a Bottle." I appreciate lyrics that make you think.

FROM RI IN BOSTON: We see a birth coming soon...and we are aware there's a dark apparition somewhere moving up from behind...but for the moment we are "dancing". We realize at any moment the circumstances could shuffle. FROM JACK: One of my favorite new hymns is The Lord of the Dance.

FROM SH IN MICHIGAN: I prefer to think of a number line (can it be also a timeline?) as you can never get in to a point where there is completely nothing and you can never get completely out to a point where there is nothing, there is always something the closer and closer in you get and there is always something the farther and farther out you get. What's a zero? FROM JACK: The concept of zero fascinates me, too.

FROM CJL IN OHIO: The older we get, the more face to face we come. FROM JACK: The obits keep appearing daily in the newspaper.

FROM MOLINER CF: Just loved your positive and invigorating WW today. Just what I needed. This will surely bring me back day after day. FROM JACK: I hope you bring your dancing shoes.

FROM MO IN ILLINOIS: I think as we age, death becomes more a natural fact of life, and not so fearful, as our bodies age. I always hate to see someone die in youth or the prime of life, even tho Jesus has "prepared a place"...I think we all want a chance to live on this earth for our allotted time! At least in the U.S. where life is enjoyable! I ran across a saying by Sir Winston Churchill which I think has a lot of truth, and is
worth passing on..."A Lie gets half way around the World, before the Truth has a chance to get his pants on".
:- ) Good one! FROM JACK: I wonder if "the prime of life" is a different time for different people. What is it that makes something "prime?" I like your Churchill quote. It has a lotta truth. MORE FROM MO: I think of the prime of life as being when you are healthy, working successfully at a profession, and having everything to live for, and life is cut short. It is a bit nebulous, isn't it? I'm so grateful that I lived to raise my own children. I
think we all believe no one can love them like their parents!

FROM BP IN FLORIDA: This is very appropriate today as my niece's mother in law passed away today. I will send her this with other things I had planned.