Jack’s Winning Words 8/27/13
“For he that naught n’assaieth naught n’acheveth.”  (Geoffrey Chaucer)  Stumped?  What Geoffrey meant to say was, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”  Chaucer is said to be the Father of English Literature, but sometimes he uses words that cause me to go to Google.  One of my favorite books is, “Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things.”  There’s so much to learn “out there.”  Keep your mind venturing!    ;-)  Jack

 FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  This is the time to sign up for new OLLI courses.  One that sounds interesting this time is American Civil War in the West.  Also  there is one at the History Center about MacDill AFB. When we first moved to Tampa fifty years ago, people would tell us about all of the war stuff going down the highways to the base during the Cuban missile crisis.====JACK:  Those sound like two ad-venturesome courses.  I think that I might pick the MacDill one, because I remember the Cuban Crisis so well.  That could well have been a turning point in our country's history.

 FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  i love to learn things while looking up other things.====JACK:  That's what makes life so interesting....so many things to learn.  For example...I should know more about Chaucer, about Sydney J. Harris, about the country of Syria (past and present), about fracking (both pro and con).

 FROM HAPPY TRAILS IN NOVA SCOTIA:  I just got a copy of Harold Kushner's latest: The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happened to a Good Person. I will send you my comments when I have read it. I heard him interviewed about it, perhaps on NPR or CBC.   After our daughter died, When Bad Things Happen to a Good Person was the single most helpful book for me, and my wife also found it helpful. When someone we know loses a child, we usually give them one. Some of the things Christians said to me, attempting to console me, were along the lines of some of the arguments advanced (by those attempting to advise Job) and refuted in the course of the new book. This experience further decreased my reluctance to accept any human interpretation of religion uncritically.====JACK:  Sometimes a book can help during difficult times.  Sometimes it's a caring someone.  Sometimes the questions linger.  I find comfort in the words of Job.  "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him."

 FROM TARMART REV:  Home safe . . . sometimes information overload . . . what was that forbidden tree found in the middle of the Garden . . . "knowledge of good and evil" . . . lately my life is being filled with too much of the evil . . . jumped right back into the life of a married couple having a dispute. . . phone calls, texts and Facebook Messages awaiting my attention . . . didn't even get un-packed . . . got my smile though! ====JACK:  At the end of life, when all is said and done....whar comforting words:  Home safe!

 FROM KF IN MICHIGAN:  Essayer is French : "to try" !====JACK:  You caused me to venture out and look it up.  Essayer is the French word for "to try."  I learned something new.  Thanks

 FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE:  You do very good research.====JACK:  I enjoy asking, "Why?"  Then, I try to find out.  That's why Chaucer's words intrigued me when I read them.

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  HA! My best teacher friend took her advanced high-schoolers through Chaucer's Canterbury Tales....when she asked her students if they knew anyone like the lady who wore red silk stockings, they said "Mrs. Oaks"! (I think she was a shady lady)....but they were thinking of someone who had the chutzpah to wear red hose....We had a good laugh. "Naught assayist, naught achievest" is so true. Upward and onward my friend!====JACK:  Do you remember the Dean Martin song:  "The Naughty Lady From Shady Lane?"  Is it better to be a shady lady than a naughty lady?  I guess shady would go with Oaks.