Jack’s Winning Words 11/21/13
“Seeing is different from being told.”  (Kenyan Proverb)  A Ben Franklin proverb puts it this way.  “Tell me, and I forget.  Teach me, and I remember.  Involve me, and I learn.”  A friend told me that he learned his “handyman” skills from his father who showed him how to use tools to fix things.  Each of us can probably name a skill that we have because someone let us “do” something as a child.  My dad played catch with me.    ;-)  Jack

 FROM RB IN MICHIGAN:  These words are so timely for my day..  I not only reflect on my dad, but the many men I observed working in things I love to do today.  They involved me in loving others via their God given talents - as you have also done...Thank you,====JACK:  We each could make a list of the people who have made us who we are today.

 FROM DP IN WISCONSIN:  Right-handed or left?====JACK:  Ambidextrous!  Bert Campaneris played all nine positions in a game on Sept. 8, 1965.  His most challenging assignments came in the final two innings. When he took the mound in the eighth he pitched as well as could be expected. On the mound, he pitched ambidextrously, throwing lefty to left-handers, and switched against right-handers. Campy allowed two walks, one hit and one run. Campaneris moved behind the plate in the ninth."

 FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  I am an excellent painter (as in house) from helping my dad as a kid. I painted all the muntin bars on his windows.====JACK:  I learned how to clean wallpaper and how to remove it.  Does anyone do that anymore?  BTW, I never knew those window dividers were called muntin bars?  vI just knew that I didn't have the patience to paint them.

 FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  .........i see..........====JACK:  Both sight and insight are great gifts.

 FROM HONEST JOHN:  I think we learn in various ways and by various means...no need to narrow it down to one way====JACK:  The point is...wherever and whenever we learn, learning is best done when the teacher involves us in the process.

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  Actually, think this must really work in handing down an interest in growing plants. You can read a book about it, watch someone else grow them and can sit in a biology class and hear the teacher talk about it but until you get your hands in the soil some and plunk the seed in and then nurture it while it's growing, the experience doesn't seem to get inside and become real until you actually do it. In this regard, people really need the opportunity to make mistakes and see successes and learn--almost like having an original relationship to the plant you're trying to grow. Guess it takes into account that there are a bunch of things that can be different from time-to-time with nature and people.====JACK:  I guess that means..When I open my box of Wheaties I should stop and think of what goes into the making of the product.  It's like we sing in the hymn:  Come, Ye Thankful People, Come..."First the blade and then the ear, Then the full corn shall appear." then the harvester, the miller, the baker, the packager, the grocer.

 FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  Learn by doing.  Unfortunately, I am a bit like Tom Sawyer and will take any help that I can get.  All of the electronic stuff these days is quite a challenge.====JACK:  My grandson stopped in the other day, and I showed him my new internet modem which needed to be installed.  I hadn't gotten around to reading the instructions. let alone getting it to work.  He sat at the keyboard and within ten minutes he had everything working just fine.

 FROM KF IN MICHIGAN:  Cooking, cooking & more cooking. A necessity for feeding 8 people every day!====JACK:  Have you passed on your experience by involving your daughters (and husband) in the cooking and cooking in your kitchen?

 FROM DOCTOR JUDY:  Love this one Jack!! Especially the Ben Franklin proverb.====JACK:  Old Ben was really a talented individual...his kite...his glasses...his proverbs...his printing...etc.

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  I like Ben's quote, new to me.  Margaret Becker at MHS. chose me for student director my Sr. year. She worked with me, so I was able to direct  our concert choir in a couple of numbers at the Spring Concert in '48. I'm sure that led me to choose Music Ed. as my college major, and I've directed school and church choirs ever since!   I wrote her a letter to tell her  of the influence she'd had in my life. I love getting similar notes from my former students!!  We all owe a debt to many "mentors" in our lives!====JACK:  Some of my confirmation students receive Winning Words.  I enjoy it when one of them will respond by saying, "That's what you taught me in confirmation class."

 FROM DP IN MINNESOTA:  My Mom was always working on a project like sewing clothing, slip covers, draperies, or knitting or crocheting some useful item.  Her practical nature was contagious, and soon I was involved in creating things, with her help of course.  I am so grateful  for her example because all my life I have enjoyed making things for our children, grandchildren, our homes, and now, especially, making quilts for LWR and the needy in our community.====JACK:  There was a time when mothers were called, "homemakers."  When did that go out of style?  Here's the 1st verse of a poem that I like...
HOME by Edgar A. Guest
It takes a heap o’ livin’ in a house t’ make it home,
A heap o’ sun an’ shadder, an’ ye sometimes have t’ roam
Afore ye really ’preciate the things ye lef’ behind,
An’ hunger fer ’em somehow, with ’em allus on yer mind.
It don’t make any differunce how rich ye get t’ be,
How much yer chairs an’ tables cost, how great yer luxury;
It ain’t home t’ ye, though it be the palace of a king,
Until somehow yer soul is sort o’ wrapped round everything.
 ====DP:  You have a gift of always responding with appropriate thoughts !  Thanks !

 FROM DMF IN MINNESOTA:  My dad played catch with me too…..with both arms!====JACK:  A few major leaguers could do that, but not many.

 FROM TARMART REV:  Running busy and late today, Jack . . . "mentoring" . . . state of the art, highest level of general development!!====JACK:  Somebody once said...."I gotta slow down, my feet's movin' too fast!====REV:  I remember one time racing my son when he was in Junior High School, trying to catch him found my head and chest way out in front of my feet to where I had to stop or I would have fallen down . . . my feet couldn't keep up !!

 FROM DB IN MICHIGAN:  my grandfather taught me how to drive a nail and to replace the washers on the sink handles in the bathroom, my grandmother taught me how to sew with a needle and thread, my other grandmother taught me how to knit and how to use a sewing machine, an aunt taught me how to crochet ====JACK:  My grandmother was in her 90s, and I remember seeing her reading her Bible every day, using a magnifying glass.  That impressed me.