Jack’s Winning Words 12/23/13
“Another belief of mine is that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.”  (Margaret Atwood)  A young mom, who enjoys playing with her children, wrote, “I keep trying to fit in with the grown-up crowd.”  Do you fit in with the crowd that’s your age?  When I was younger and being silly, I was told, “Act your age!”  Is it silly to want to hop and skip and to stand in line to talk with Santa?”    ;-)  Jack

 FROM HONEST JOHN:  Be yourself.   Do, within reason, what you like.  Don't pretend you are young just to impress others.====JACK:  You were (are) a good children's story teller, because you know when and how to be a child.

 FROM TARMART REV:  I played Santa while there in West Bloomfield and working with Parks & Rec . . . Enjoyed bringing a smile to those elderly ladies' faces (they could no longer "hop and skip", but they were eager to sit on Santa's lap!!====JACK:  I wonder what would happen if you sat in your usual place at Target and Walmart wearing a Santa suit?

 ====REV:  I could most likely get away with, but if a former Lutheran pastor sat on my lap...we'd both make the front page of the paper.====JACK:  I'm staying in Michigan.

 FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  i like to sit at the kids table.====JACK:  I do, too.  But, I've never thought to ask for their permission.  Or, can they see through my disguise and see me as one of them? ====MARY:  i don't ask permission either.  maybe they do know where we belong.  it's nice to think so!

 FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  I suppose "acting" one's age is just an act anyway; so it seems best to be your "developed" age, or honest, or just as you are. If one "acts" like someone long enough, (s)he might start to believe (s)he is who (s)he pretends to be. What a tragedy! It seems that as we "act our age" we lose that something in ourselves that is willing to run through the sprinkler with or without clothes on. I think I like the "kids table" too. They are more likely to be honest and just themselves.====JACK:  I remember once when we were at a church member's house.  Our kids were playing with their kids.  Our son (about 10) took a bread stick pretzel and pretended that he was Groucho Marx.  The other father reprimanded him for playing with his food.  I thought that what David did was pretty funny.  We still laugh at the event of kids being kids.

 FROM WATERFORD JAN:  Sometimes it is amusing to see someone "act" like a kid to entertain others, or even make a serious point in a memorable way.  To watch an adult try to "be" younger than their age is sometimes uncomfortable.  I'm wonder if our Winning Words author is asking for our permission for him to "hop and skip and to stand in line to talk with Santa?"  I think that would be a charming sight to see! ====JACK:  One of my favorite comedians was Jonathan Winters.  He always seemed to have fun doing silly stuff.  BTW, have you ever seen the Monty Python skit about the Silly Walk?  It's on Youtube.

 FROM SBP IN FLORIDA:  For me, today's WW tags into Eric Berne's theory that the facets of personalities are basically Parent, Adult, Child...PAC..and our responses to life's situations reflect one or the other or a combination of these facets. (An over-simplification, of course.) And..Yes! My "child" is reflected in "silly" situations or pranks or self-indulgence wistful memories....I think that it is good to allow my "child" to pop up every once in a while. It makes me smile at me.====JACK:  Winning Words allows me to reveal several facets...friend, pastor, philosopher and nostalgiaist.

  FROM KF IN MICHIGAN:  "It takes a long time to grow young"  (Picasso) ====JACK:  Now...that one, I like.  Some of P's paintings seem almost child-like.