Winning Words 7/22/11

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly.” (Richard Bach) I’ve read that there are 15,000 kinds of butterflies, and the scientists are still counting. Christians use the butterfly as a symbol of Easter. The caterpillar ends its life by becoming a butterfly. Sometimes circumstances come upon us that can cause us to lose hope. In those times, remember the butterfly. ;-) Jack

FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE: good words////FROM JACK: Master, Easter, hope, butterfly...good words, indeed.

FROM LP IN PLYMOUTH: OK. The biologist in me objects to the caterpillar "ending its life." It's not dying it transforming. Though not as showy, even mosquitoes do it (Can you imagine an Easter mosquito?!?). I don't want to squash the analogy, but extend it. We all go through life stages and transformations but each stage makes us part of who we are. I have to think that the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus are defining.////FROM JACK: Have you talked to any caterpillars lately? I thought that you might argue the 15,000 number, or the difference between a butterfly and a moth. But you're right on the transforming thing. Even "dust to dust" is transformation.////MORE FROM LP: FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupa////FROM JACK: That was worth looking at. BTW, what happens to butterflies when they cease being butterflies? ////FROM LP: No chatting with caterpillars, however I've seen a few butterflies flitting around. I'll not question the incredible amount of diversity. Though I only see (recognize) a few species around here, it's a wide wide world. Aren't there a butterfly houses in Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids? I wonder how many species are housed there...Dust to dust... we checked out a book on space from the library. It said that all of earth and the other planets were created from space dust. On the first day.////FROM JACK: A Butterfly House on Mackinac Island, too.

FROM RI IN BOSTON: There are cycles in human life and I think we have to make the most of each one...savor each good thing and then let go, and move on to explore what's next. Cherish the past but don't cling to it. The memories of each cycle are what sustain us when we become physically unable to continue what we always liked to do. ////FROM JACK:
Sometimes you're happy, sometimes you're sad
But the world goes 'round
Sometimes you lose every nickel you had
But the world goes 'round

Sometimes your dreams get broken in pieces
But that doesn't alter a thing
Take it from me, there's still gonna be
A summer, a winter, a fall and a spring

Somebody loses and somebody wins
And one day it's kicks, then it's kicks in the shins
But the planet spins, and the world goes 'round-
But the world goes 'round
But the world goes 'round

FROM KKG IN MICHIGAN: This reminds me of a children's book that was read at Story Hour in the dorm my freshman year at MTU. The Story Hour was once a month and someone would read a book and then we would all discuss it - it was a great "get to know" your dorm mates event. The book was "Hope for the Flowers" by Trina Paulus. What a wonderful book about caterpillars becoming butterflies but the deeper meaning was something like not trying so hard in life and just letting life take you where it takes you and believing in yourself. We all loved it. I'm not sure if it is still in print but libraries might have it.////FROM JACK: Half.com shows it available in paperback for 75 cents, plus postage. You might want to order it and relive your college days.

FROM PC IN MICHIGAN: My favorite story of the butterfly.....Struggle is Good! I Want to Fly!
Once a little boy was playing outdoors and found a fascinating caterpillar. He carefully picked it up and took it home to show his mother. He asked his mother if he could keep it, and she said he could if he would take good care of it.
The little boy got a large jar from his mother and put plants to eat, and a stick to climb on, in the jar. Every day he watched the caterpillar and brought it new plants to eat.
One day the caterpillar climbed up the stick and started acting strangely. The boy worriedly called his mother who came and understood that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon. The mother explained to the boy how the caterpillar was going to go through a metamorphosis and become a butterfly.
The little boy was thrilled to hear about the changes his caterpillar would go through. He watched every day, waiting for the butterfly to emerge. One day it happened, a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to struggle to come out.
At first the boy was excited, but soon he became concerned. The butterfly was struggling so hard to get out! It looked like it couldn’t break free! It looked desperate! It looked like it was making no progress!
The boy was so concerned he decided to help. He ran to get scissors, and then walked back (because he had learned not to run with scissors…). He snipped the cocoon to make the hole bigger and the butterfly quickly emerged!
As the butterfly came out the boy was surprised. It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He continued to watch the butterfly expecting that, at any moment, the wings would dry out, enlarge and expand to support the swollen body. He knew that in time the body would shrink and the butterfly’s wings would expand.
But neither happened!
The butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly…
As the boy tried to figure out what had gone wrong his mother took him to talk to a scientist from a local college. He learned that the butterfly was SUPPOSED to struggle. In fact, the butterfly’s struggle to push its way through the tiny opening of the cocoon pushes the fluid out of its body and into its wings. Without the struggle, the butterfly would never, ever fly. The boy’s good intentions hurt the butterfly.
As you go through school, and life, keep in mind that struggling is an important part of any growth experience. In fact, it is the struggle that causes you to develop your ability to fly.
As instructors our gift to you is stronger wings…
////FROM JACK: We are the world...or, at least a part of it. "All things work together for good."

FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Don't let the butterfly flutter by.////FROM JACK: I've heard that butterflies were first called, flutterbys, which makes sense to me.

FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: The children’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” is an incredible classic book that has so many lessons for children and adults. At my two-year-old great niece’s birthday party the whole family participated in a reading/skit of the book. Each of us was one of the items the caterpillar ate…..have you heard of this book by Eric Carle? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Hungry_Caterpillar
I need to remember the butterfly today! ////FROM JACK: No, I haven't heard of that book. And I haven't heard of a family doing a skit for a 2-yr-old's birthday party. What a great idea!

FROM ILLINOIS LIZ: Good morning. There's no link here to Winning Words anymore? Or did I just notice that? I have it on my toolbar.////FROM JACK: Some people were having trouble accessing the link, so I thought I'd simply things by giving a daily reminder to Google "jack'swinningwords." The blog shows up there.

FROM DP VACATIONING IN WISCONSIN: A very encouraging thought and reminder!////FROM JACK: If you're by your laptop, with nothing to do...Google Wisconsin butterflies. I never knew that there was such a variety of beautiful winged creatures in that state. However, today's message is about something else, as you surmised.

FROM WATERFORD ANNE: I love the butterfly house at the Detroit zoo. In addition to the peace and beauty of the butterflies, one may enjoy the beauty of the Pewabic tile on the building. Look up as you enter.//// FROM JACK: Two more things that are GOOD about Detroit...The Zoo and Pewabic.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Our grandsons look all over the place for cocoons. They love to watch the butterflies emerge. My neighbor buys caterpillars for her class and they make a big display and watch them grow. She gets some for Josh and Noah each year. They can't wait to get their caterpillars! The caterpillar is a wonderful way to explain a lot of Christian values. It's a perfect resurrection tool! I'm sure God made it so! "Oh who can make a butterfly, I'm sure I can't can you? Oh who can make a butterfly, no one by God tis true!" One of my favorite Sunday school songs!////FROM JACK: I know that song, too.

FROM BS NEAR ORLANDO: one beautiful school day I was enjoying our garden when I noticed about 5 mature ( huge ) tomato cut worms eating away as though there was no tomorrow. They already had several wasp eggs attached to their bodies, so our friend Mother Nature got started as early as we used to when working on the farm. i.e. 5 o'clock up in the silo forking down 500 lbs of silage. Well I quickly got a qt. canning jar and carefully stuffed those caterpillars into it and hauled off to Roosevelt school ( in my gardening clothes ) and stopped in the office to get permission to take them up to Mrs Middleton's class so they could get a first hand look at nature. I surrendered them to Mrs Middleton with one rule they didn't let the butterflies loose to come back to someone's garden. I think that is called metamorphosis, ( thank you spell check )////
FROM JACK: I read that a tomato worm turns into a huge moth, called a hawkmoth...no butterfly.////FROM A FRIEND OF BS: Nice little story. I have hedges on my property. One day noticed a lack of foliage and investigating I found a horde of caterpillars eating away as if there was no tomorrow. Putting on gloves I filled a can with plain alcohol, and pulling off the cdaterpillars I put them in the alcohol which immediately killed them. Took me about an hour to rid the plants of the caterpillars. I know I interferred with Nature, and I missed some butterflies. It was a dilemm. Best always. Leonard ////REPLY FROM BS TO LEONARD: That reminds me of the time my grandmother's neighbor , Gus Otto, planted potatoes next to the sidewalk. Potatoes attract a nifty lookingcaterpillar, so we children picked handsfull of them and brought Grandma a present. I just cain't remember her response but Aunt Lydia got some kerosene and an an m-t can and we dispached them rather quickly. We never saved any to see what they might look like' A lady preacher from our church came over to visit with Irene, her visit was just as nice as her sermons., but not like that Rip Roaring preacher who preached for the Martin Luther King service one year. I hoped that if our church changed preachers that we could vote for this gent. No such luck. Preacher Brenda told us that the church has a committeeto do that 4 us. Shucks.