Winning Words 5/20/13
“Damn the torpedoes!  Full speed ahead!”  (David Farragut)  How comfortable are you with taking risks?  Admiral Farragut ordered the ship, Brooklyn, to go through the mined waters of Mobile Bay in 1864, to help bring an end to the Civil War.  This life is full of risks.  Our choices of food, transportation, job, life partner are all risky business!  While it’s important to be prudent, sometimes we have to be like the Admiral.    ;-)  Jack

 FROM RI IN BOSTON:  Risk seems inevitable when we have to make a decision and all our choices have a downside.  On the other hand, sometimes we are so headstrong that we just disregard good judgment or common sense.  Damn the consequences...I'm gonna do it.  The degree of risk isn't even taken into account, we are so determined to do what we want to do.  Gambling everything we have, or passing on a curve aren't worth the risk, however as an example, surgery to correct a heart problem may be a risk we have to take. ====JACK:  I wonder is some people are so poor that they will buy lottery tickets in spite of the odds? ====RI:  I think it happens all the time.  Seems to me a sad prospect for hope.====JACK:  Do you think that the agnostic/atheist feels the same way about people of faith?====RI:  I think the agnostics aren't quite sure what to believe so they maintain a position "on the fence."  The atheists though, most likely do believe people of faith are counting on something they will never encounter.

 FROM WALMART REV:  ...the missionary is most exciting when back home sharing his experiences. ====JACK:  To me, missionaries always had stories to tell that made my ministry seem mundane.  I wonder if people in the pew feel that way when they listen to sermons?====PH:  I believe they do so...especially when we open up and share some of the experiences when God brought us through those more difficult times.

 FROM MT IN PENNSYLVANIA:  That's why I'm risking everything (literally) to make Teamability® a success.  It's a technology that really can change the world for the better.====JACK:  Damn the torpedoes!

FROM MY FLORIST:  I LOVE IT!====JACK:  I'm not so sure that those on the "Brooklyn" loved the order.====FLORIST:  When I was a kid the Military school I attended was Admiral Farragut Academy. ====JACK:  The background of some quotes is even more interesting than the quote itself.  You probably learned the story of Farragut at the academy.

 FROM ME IN NEWPORT BEACH:  Good inspiration for me today.  I have been dragging my feet on a big project.====JACK:  My BIG project is wading through a pile of papers that were tossed together in a pile during our recent sump pump failure.  Full speed ahead...after I take a coffee break!

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.====JACK:  ....EXCEPT...the ship could strike a torpedo and blow up.  But, that's the risk involved.  Life is risk

 FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!====JACK:  According to writer Jack S. McDowall, the famous phrase is generally credited to "a chaplain," said to be manning the guns of a ship under attack.  The real chaplain, Howell Forgy, was aboard the USS New Orleans during the Japanese attack. An officer in charge of an ammunition line on the USS New Orleans during the attack said that, "I heard a voice behind me saying, 'Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.' I turned and saw Chaplain Forgy walking toward me, along the line of men. He was patting them on the back and making that remark to cheer and keep them going. I know it helped me a lot, too."  Forgy appeared on the game show I've Got a Secret in an episode that originally aired May 18, 1955, and recalled the story as follows:
    Well, I was stationed aboard the USS New Orleans, and we were tied up at 1010 dock in Pearl Harbor when we attacked again. We were having a turbine lifted, and all of our electrical power wasn't on, and so when we went to lift the ammunition by the hoist, we had to form lines of men — form a bucket brigade — and we began to carry the ammunition up through the quarterdeck into the gurneys, and I stood there and directed some of the boys down the port side and some down the starboard side, and as they were getting a little tired, I just happened to say, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition." That's all there was to it.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  The recent case of Jason Collins is a case in point...he had the courage to raise his hand in the pro basketball classroom, and say "I'm Different"; Risky, even tho some criticized him for waiting until the closing of his career, and until gay rights had  become a popular cause...)  I think my husband  was gutsy to be a determined teetotaler in college, (in the hard-drinking athletic Pug fraternity at college,)  and to go church on Sunday mornings as  a  committed Christian, when most friends slept in. As Supreme court Chief Justice John Marshall has said, ":Sometimes integrity is the subtlest and most effective strategy o all."  Loved these WW this morning. ====JACK:  Hard drinking at Augustana in those days?  I thought that the BIG question of the day was whether or not to allow dancing on campus.

 FROM BS NEAR ORLANDO:  Dear Jack,  YES  SIR. SIR.  Once, after our entire unit returned from a 20 mile hike, ( full back pack, and helmet, and rifle Mi with bayonet, one of my buddies asked the ist Lt. what time it was, with out saying, SIR.  So the Lt asked, "What did you say????,  So I quickly answered, YES SIR< , YES SIR SIR.  my buddy didn't catch on,and the Lt recognized my voice,  and repeated,  "WHAT ????", again my buddy didn't catch on so I yelled out, "YES SIR, SIR"   too late,  so the  Lt. yelled out, "O>K>  double time twice around the company area".  Well my risk didn't work.  We hit a mine.  Thank God I was young, and spent a lot of time, using each and every muscle the GOOD LORD gave me every day,  the double time ordeal was a snap then,but I never forgot it.  Thank You Jack,  Adm. Farragut won the battle.  He was an "Old Timer"