Jack’s Winning Words 8/13/13
“Old men are dangerous.  It doesn’t matter to them what is going to happen to the world.”  (George Bernard Shaw)  I’ve read that the oldest soldier on active duty is a 79 year old doctor at Ft. Benning, Col. William Bernhard.  Clint Eastwood, in Gran Torino, was a crotchety old man, but, really, he was a caring person.  When GBS commented on the elderly he overlooked those who do care about the future they’ll never see.   ;-)  Jack

 FROM HONEST JOHN:  Frankly Freed, I see you as incredibly dangerous...who knows what Winning Words is really about?====JACK:  Writing Winning Words is like composing a mini-sermon.

 FROM RI IN BOSTON:  I think old men are cantankerous, not actually dangerous.  We complain a lot, primarily because life could and should be better than it is.  Any man with children or grandchildren does care about the sort of life they will have in the future, hoping theirs will be better than ours regardless that we won't benefit from it.====JACK:  I think that each age should celebrate it's own joys and limitations.  This morning I talked with someone who will participate in an Ironman Triathlon.  I'm not able to participate in such an event, but he doesn't have grandchildren, either.

  FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  Actually, my mother-in-law is 93 years old and she repeatedly says that "They don't tell any good news in the news. They just tell bad news." She keeps threatening not to watch the news--since it makes her so unhappy--but so far she hasn't been able to do that. Our congregation has an outreach ministry to an assisted living and sometimes I try to think how a person would preach the Gospel to a bunch of people who get their news from TV shows, how to say something reassuring and comforting about Jesus being alive and involved in this world to a bunch of old people who watch the news. TV just isn't capable of informing completely. I wonder what old people George Bernard Shaw knew.====JACK:  I wonder if GBS was looking in a mirror when he made that comment about old men?  As far as TV news is concerned, I have a remote control and know how to use it.

 FROM TARMART REV:  ... or those who do care about the future they will see! "It was by faith that Moses . . . instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin . . . was looking ahead to his great reward" (Hebrews 11:24-26).====JACK:  I like Moses.  He saw a Promised Land beyond the obvious one.

 FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  that's a bunch of bs!  the new divide in this country is age... "young people are lazy." "your generation got us into this mess."====JACK:  That's the problem with generalizations.  I don't like items which say, "One size fits all."  These words by Edward Wallis Hoch seem to fit..." There is so much good in the worst of us, And so much bad in the best of us, That it hardly behooves any of us To talk about the rest of us."  Even "The Greatest Generation" is a generalization.====LIZ:  LAL.

 FROM GTRIHARDER:  It seems as parents, most of us care about the condition of the world our children and (hopeful) grandchildren will live in.  Politicians, however, seem to be able to separate this and care more today.   A parent would never saddle his/her child with huge debt, a polluted place to live in, a world with a dwindling number of wildlife and plantlife species.  Politicians don't seem to care.====JACK:  I think you need to pay another visit to the Optimist Club.  Having said that, I have been thinking about you and your family, what with the terror alert in Pakistan and other parts of the world.  Additionally, I, too, am concerned about how we are misusing our irreplaceable planet.  If I were an old man I might not be concerned about what's left after I'm gone, but I am concerned.  A song that I know applies to all of us...."This world is not my home, I'm justs passin' through...."

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  It probably matters to old men who have children, grands, and "greats" who will inherit whatever conditions are left by dangerous old men....to whom it doesn't matter!  Shaw tended to be cynical and negative, (but witty!) but of course there is a kernal of truth in his observation. For SOME old men...  I laugh remembering his exchange with Sir Winston Churchill: He sent Churchill two tickets for Opening night to his  new play, saying , "Here are two tickets for Opening Night for you and a friend, if you have a friend."  Churchill replied, "Can't make it for OPENING night...will come for second performance, if there IS a 2nd night". They must have enjoyed each other!====JACK:  I wonder why Shaw didn't add...."Old women are dangerous, too."?  Maybe it's because he lived during a time when women did not wield as much power as they do today.

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Old George was probably having a bad day.  I don't agree with his assumption as I know I lot of older people who care about this grand world we live in.  My dad was in his 80's when he tried to work on the AuSable River to stop some drilling that might have polluted the river. ====JACK:  As a generalization, many older people seem to have a set of values different from those (some of them) of the "throw-away:" generation.

 FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  Today is yesterday's dream.====JACK:  ..or nightmare.

FROM CJL IN OHIO:  Good observation about GBS.  I think GT is an exemplary film.