Winning Words 12/13/11
“Just because you are blind and unable to see my beauty doesn’t mean it does not exist.” (Margaret Cho) I like Margaret Cho. Sometimes her comedy is a bit edgy, but I try to look for what’s behind the joke. In the eyes of this world, Margaret wouldn’t be seen as one who is “beautiful.” Her quote asks us to think about what defines beauty. Try to see something that is “unusually” beautiful today. ;-) Jack

FROM JACK: Here's another quote (W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge, 1943) that seems to apply to what Margaret Cho had to say. "I'm not only my spirit buy my body, and who can decide how much I, my individual self, am conditioned by the accident of my body? Would Byron have been Byron but for his club foot, or Dostoyevsky Dostoyevsky without his epilepsy?"

FROM TG IN MICHIGAN: I'm glad I am getting these from you. Inspiring! "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." (~Rashi)////FROM JACK: Welcome to "The List." Thanks, too, for sending the interesting quote.

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY: she's a funny girl. that is her beauty. there is so much beautiful to see. particularly at this time of year when it is all lit up!////FROM JACK: One of the beautiful things I see at this time of the year is the Salvation Army bell ringer.////MORE FROM MARY: and what a great sound. lots of angels getting wings!

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Hilarious really when you think about it. When I first started to read it I thought it was from Helen Keller....but not quite. We are often blind when we look at strangers aren't we? Instantly judging by face or body only! We need to look a second time. We would be so surprised at how beautiful a person really is.////FROM JACK: Isn't it interesting? The brain allows the eyes to see; it also allows the mind to see.

FROM ILLINOIS LIZ: If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? Margaret Cho is a hoot!////FROM JACK: Margaret comes on as though she doesn't care what people think. But, deep down, I think she does. Life hasn't always been easy for her.

FROM S & S IN ILLINOIS: Love that one!////FROM JACK: I'll bet you know of others who would like it, too.

FROM RJP IN FLORIDA: Good one today..... I looked in the mirror, but it didn't work.....Oh well>>>>>>>>> ////FROM JACK: Mirrors only reflect what they see, without making comment. If you want a real answer, ask those who hang around with you.

FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Yesterday a friend wanted me to accompany her to the Courthouse downtown to sit with her and her family while the judge heard the lawyers in the estate case. My friend said she had had only two hours of sleep, she drives this big van, we were looking for parking for that big van, it was creaking and groaning, then, after the case was heard, she decided she wanted to drive around Detroit. I was a nervous wreck but finally succeeded in getting her to drive home. This morning on my voice mail I just got her message saying she had gone home and right to sleep and slept off and on through the night. For a person who chronically can't sleep (depression?) that was an unusually beautiful voice mail message and especially since at the end she apologized and told me I was right to insist on going home. We are not only spirit but our bodies, how true!!!!!!! We see beauty in each other's brokenness.////FROM JACK: What is it that makes a person? A body? Or a spirit? In this world, we are both. Some people are fixated only on the body.

FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER: Interesting spin on the "falling tree in the forest" bromide.////FROM JACK: It was philosopher George Berkeley who posited something like, "If trees are in the forest and no one is there to see them, do they really exist?" That leads to a lot of other interesting thoughts.

FROM BLAZING OAKS: I will have to get acquainted with Margaret Cho...a new name for me! Of course the quote is Spot-On...beauty IS in the eye of the beholder, and how differently we often "see" ! Diversity is the Spice of Life: My fat squirrel entertained me this morning before I left for a bridge luncheon, with his bushy tail arched over his back and head to ward off the rain, and he munched away on an ear of corn, sitting on his little chair, at his little table! HA! OLE!////FROM JACK: You wouldn't find Margaret performing in a Baptist church, although you might find an occasional Baptist where she does perform. But, my purpose is to focus on the quote, not the quoter.