Winning Words 5/6/13
“I’ve yet to meet someone who couldn’t teach me something.”  (David DeSalvo)  As I look back on my life, I see that many people have caused me to be what I am today.  Yes, the decisions have been mine, but the choices put before me were the result of the people I’ve met up with..at home..in school..in the workplace..at church.  My memory allows me to put a face with each name.  I’m sure that you’re able to do the same.    ;-)  Jack

  FROM RI IN BOSTON:  Those WW strike me as true.  We sometimes make a hasty appraisal of a person, only later to get something instructive from that person.  It may happen during a brief encounter with a person that we never see again.====JACK:  An electrical engineer told me of a phrase that was used on certain projects...UNK UNKs, the unknowns.  UNK UNKs have shaped us, too.

 FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE:  I have coffee twice a week with a unique collection of men. I'm usually the youngest one there and these guys are continually are teaching me, a 75 year old, new things. One was born in Sweden, one is a 91 year old Jewish veterinarian who served in WW  II after immigrating from Poland as a boy, one can speak 11 languages, and others who possess soooo much wisdom that I am privileged to benefit from all this learning.====JACK:  My mother-in-law was a very talented organist.  She took her talents to the grave...and, yet, she influenced so many of her students. The talent lives on.

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:   This WW is so true!!!! Within a few hours, a little 4 year old boy will be coming to my house--wonder what I'll learn from him today--there's always something discovered or uncovered or made more aware of in himself and myself and that started happening right at the beginning of our friendship. Astonishing also is what we can learn from complete strangers in just a very brief encounter. Things we remember for a lifetime. Thanks for helping us to remember to be thankful again this morning!!!!! ====JACK:  How wise....to realize that you can learn from a 4-year-old.  Sometimes the older folks think that they have all of the answers.

 FROM WALMART REV:  ...and a few more I'm no longer able to put a name to or remember what they looked like any longer... I can tell you the church, or the school or college or the place...but somehow I'm asking others, "You know, that person who...what's there names again?"====JACK:  Some people believe that all of that information is written in God's Book of Life.

 FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: Like.====JACK:  ...and there are the ones who've been influenced by you

 FROM HR IN MICHIGAN:  Sometimes, there are things I’d rather not learn :)====JACK:  As the old song goes..."You got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative."

 FROM GF IN MICHIGAN:  I was always attempting to have teachers understand that learning could take place outside of the four walls of a classroom!====JACK:  I'll never forget the experience when my 6th grade teacher and her "boyfriend" took the whole class on a bike outing one Saturday.  I didn't own a bike at the time, but I borrowed one, because I didn't want to miss out.  She was my all-time favorite teacher.

 FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  The significant implication in today's word suggests a more fundamental issue with regard to teaching's usefulness: that there is much to learn from others! Learning keeps me in the more humble state of "not-knowing". We are left to be discerning about what we are "learning" and from whom we are being "taught"!====JACK:  There are times when we learn, without knowing that we're learning.  There's an old saying with regard to what is said in the home..."Little children have big ears (and eyes, too)."  
FROM WATERFORD JAN: Many names and faces come to mind as people who taught me positive ways to live by their example. The positive examples I experienced began with my parents, and soon extended to older neighbors and friends, then to my Sunday School experience.  There were also persons whose names and faces were never known who also taught me a lot. Their behavior was not how I wanted to behave or their appearance was not how I wanted to appear.====JACK:  Isn't it interesting how the names and faces can sometimes be etched in the mind, as well as the lessons?  I'm doing that right now!

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  So many people help us map our lives.  They show us the best pathways and even though we do have choices, they are there to help.  I remember!====JACK:  Every day can be a memorial day, if we want it to be.  Even though I like the last Sunday in May to be Memorial Day, I appreciated the olden days when it was called, Decoration Day.  There was a reason for that name, too.

 FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  Yes and it is so much fun to learn new things, don't you think?  The Whirlpool repair lady (yes, she was a lady)  just left after showing me how to use a hair dryer to clear some gears which allow the ice cubes to be dispensed.  I would have never thought of that in a million years.  life is very interesting and challenging and changing.  I remember the ice box on the back porch and the ice man who delivered the ice.  It doesn't seem all that long ago.====JACK:  The plumber recently gave us a bottle of liquid, containing microbes.  "Put 2 ounces of this down your drains once a month and your drains will never clog up."  No more plunger or Drain-O..