Winning Words 12/6/10
“Remember that credit is money.” (Ben Franklin) In BF’s Poor Richard’s Almanack, there’s a whole chapter on Thrift as a Virtue. It’s apropos for this “spending/charging” season. I read this week that 6 out of 10 Americans are in serious credit card debt. Ben’s advice is good, and it’s free. What a deal! Check your memory. Are there any favorite Franklin quotes that come to mind? ;-) Jack

FROM RI IN BOSTON: I suppose one of Ben's best known quotes is, "A penny saved is a penny earned." It's true, and saving enough of them can add up. I sometimes carry a picture of Ben in my wallet. FROM JACK: I carry a picture of George Washington in my wallet, and a MasterCard, too.

FROM PRLH (CLUSTER DEAN): Greetings Cluster Pastors - at our meeting last week retired pastor Jack Freed shared about his ongoing internet ministry called Winning Words - just in case you have not seen one of these great little conversation (and sometimes sermon) starters, here is the one for today - to subscribe just let Jack know. FROM JACK: I'd put you on the payroll, Jonathan...except that there's no payroll. Another quote from Poor Richard's Almanack.....""Blessed is he that expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed." This quote should be able to fit (somehow) this season of expectation.

FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE: Excellent! Timely! It does seem as though people are reducing their credit purchases here. FROM JACK: But, those ads can be soooo enticing. "Yield not to temptation..." as the old song goes.

FROM GOOD DEBT JON: “A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.” Ben Franklin FROM JACK: Old Ben is remembered for his many sayings and his inventions and his brilliant mind. I wonder if he ever had an "ego" problem. MORE FROM JON: No more so than any other politician….He wrote of taming his ego in his Biography and followed the writings of an early preacher named Cotton Mather. EVEN MORE FROM JON: Everyone is listening to their personal radio station: WIIFM (What’s In It For Me)….

FROM SG IN TAMPA: A penny saved is a penny earned. FROM JACK: I've heard that it costs almost 2 cents to make a penny. Some have said that pennies should be discontinued. If that happens, Ben's saying will become obsolete

FROM CL IN MICHIGAN: My favorite money quote does not come from Franklin but The Bard, Neither a borrower or a lender be FROM JACK: Having said that....Do you pay cash for everything? No credit cards? No mortgage or car payments? I know of a man who always uses cash for his church offering. It makes him "feel" like he's really giving.

FROM MOLINER CF: "I wish I had something to help me read this small type." FROM JACK: Funny, but that's just what Ben said. Ben also wrote: Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something.

FROM LH IN MICHIGAN: My mom was very fond of using Ben Franklin quotations, so I'm familiar w/ lots of them. (Mother liked to "pep up" winter a bit by having special 'birthday dinners', so in January we'd celebrate Ben's birthday, in February George Washington's, etc.) Her annual Ben Franklin monthly calendar was a fixture in the kitchen by the wall phone. Every yr. different sayings were used for each month and the ink color would be different. I can just "see" it now. Though it's made me a bit teary, thank you for reminding me of a fond memory. FROM JACK: What a great idea....A special birthday party to "spice" up the month. I wonder if they still make Ben Franklin calendars. They have Franklin Planners, but I don't see them used much anymore.

FROM PRJM IN MICHIGAN: Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. Not advice I take, since I'm a night owl, but on those few occasions when I get enough sleep to wake up perky in the early morning, it's a delight to watch the sun rise over the little lake behind my apartment and thank God for the day to come. FROM JACK: Ben lived in an era when it was believed that hard work would be rewarded. We seem to be more cynical about that today. My parents put that saying in these words: "Don't complain! Hard work is good for you."

FROM MO IN ILLINOIS: Goes along with "A Penny Saved, is a penny earned" ...When Ben Franklin was warned that he was surrounded by spies, after he landed in France, he responded: "I have long observed one rule which prevents any inconveniences from such practices. It is simply this: to be concerned in no affaires I should blush to have made public, and to do nothing but what spies may see and welcome. When a man's actions are just and honorable, the more they are known, the more his reputation is increased and
established. If I was sure therefore, that my valet de place was a spy, as he probably is, I think I should probably not discharge him for that, if in other respects, I like him" Isaacson says Franklin, in his 84 yrs. was America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer and business strategist, and a practical, if not profound, political thinker. Gee, we'd better get busy and make OUR lives count...only four yrs. to go for me!! FROM JACK: It's said that if you want to know what a man is really like, ask his valet. In your case, we'll have to ask your maid. I'm sure that Ben was like the rest of us, in that no one is perfect. I once gave a speech on the occasion of George Washington's birthday. In a clever way, I pointed out documented imperfections of "the father of our country." The class got a lick out of it. The professor said that it was a good speech, technically, but that it was totally inappropriate. Augustana College was a place for learning, and I really learned something that day.