Winning Words 12/2/10
“The young man knows the rules. The old man knows the exceptions.” (O.W. Holmes) In last Sunday’s PARADE magazine, there was an article describing how and why the brain of a teen is different from that of an adult. There are reasons why a child can be so smart and so clueless at the same time. Life could be so much easier, if we’d just take the time to try and understand one another. ;-) Jack

FROM MV IN MICHIGAN: Amen Jack. It is easy to expect others to understand everything we understand when in fact circumstances such as the one you mention prevent it. FROM JACK: If only we could "see" that there are other points of view. We don't all see with the same set of eyes, using the same brain. The world becomes more beautiful when we ask others to explain what they see.

FROM EMT SINGS IN MICHIGAN: Ain't it the truth. In fact, I find it so easy to see both sides of a situation that I usually seem down right wishy-washy. A trait that I think I may have gotten from my Mother who was very non-judgmental. We miss her! FROM JACK: Oh, that explains my "wishy-washyness." Sitting on the fence allows you to see both sides, doesn't it?

FROM SH IN MICHIGAN: We have more people coming through our church doors now to use the food pantry. Last night we had a homeless person join us for prayer. I don't know where he eventually slept but we all felt comforted praying together and I feel like it's the depression again when people realized poverty wasn't just an individual's situation but systemically in the culture. He had been in a shelter getting eaten up by bed bugs. Now he needs money to get to Texas for a job. We probably should have had a man/woman of wealth
praying with us last night for us all to be able to understand each other better in these United States. Now I see better why Jesus spent so much time eating and drinking with the Pharaisees and the Publicans and so many other rich people. He was smart and could see all our needs and the world was beautified. Just trying to see here this morning. FROM JACK: We need experiences like you had last night in order to see with other eyes.

FROM MOLINER CF: One thing the old need to remember: they were once the young. FROM JACK: .... because the young can't remember what it was like to be old. I don't mind it when the young sometimes laugh us oldtimers, because I did the same thing when I was their age. MORE FROM CF: Our conversation reminds me of when I was in Boot Camp. I was 18 and fresh out of high school, as were most of the platoon. One of the guys was 24 and we called him "Pappy."

FROM SG IN TAMPA: Just maybe the teens learn from the actions of the adults around them and that is one of our main goals in life. One of my granddaughters is preparing for confirmation and one of the projects was to sleep out and to serve the homeless in St. Petersburg in a shelter called Pinellas Hope. FROM JACK: What a great and memorable experience for a young person. Confirmation is a time for getting to know what "faith" is all about. "Sleeping out" as a homeless person is different than going out on a camping trip.

FROM MO IN ILLINOIS: Good saying! And every rule has exceptions! My grandson is VERY bright but when he was growing up he was not imbued with common sense, at times! But he was the Go-to person by third grade, for the whole school, if a computer needed to be fixed, and was a Merit scholar, getting a full ride to Arizona State. (Had his choice of Yale, Northwestern, Princeton, etc.) and has done really well out in the Real World as a business consultant, so there you go. His dad is Fred, the AB Minister, the youngest of my 3 sons. All of Fred and Judy's 3 children are outstanding. They were exceptional nurturing parents. How did I get off on this, when the saying was featuring diversity and acceptance??! ' FROM JACK: That's the mom and grandma in you doing the writing.