Jack’s Winning Words 2/26/14
“Never ask, ‘Can I do this?’  Ask instead, ‘How can I do this?’”  (Dan Zadra)  JFK  had been President for only 15 minutes when he said these electrifying words, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”  The Peace Corps was one result.  Every so often a country, an organization, a person needs a “We/I Can Do It” jolt   Is there some challenge you see “out there” that needs doing?    ;-)  Jack

   FROM LP IN PLYMOUTH:  An interesting week of WW. Drowning at work lately. Just taken on more than I can do I think. To keep from spinning my wheels I try focusing on the top 3 things that I can do that day. Since can't isn't an option I guess this is my how.====JACK:  It seems that in today's work world, fewer people are being called up to do more work.  As I said to a friend yesterday..."You're not Superman!"  You're not Wonder Woman, either.  Prioritizing is a good way of answering the "how" question.====LP:  My problem is when the priority of today doesn't help me prepare for the priority of tomorrow. Clearly I can look ahead. But to borrow an expression of a colleague sometimes we are just putting out fires. One day at a time... ====JACK:  I wonder if that's how Obama feels while sitting in the Oval Office.  But then he goes upstairs to his family.  At the end of the day, close the office door and go home.

 FROM HONEST JOHN:  Sometimes the "How" question can lead to the conclusion "I can't.".   As in "How can I be God?".  Of course, some fools have reasoned that they could (Stalin, Hitler, Koch brothers) and have failed miserably.====JACK:  One of the pitfalls of positive thinking is to believe that "I can do anything, if I just put my mind to it."  I've always liked the story of Archimedes.  Some things make sense in the abstract, but then reality comes into play.

 FROM TARMART REV:  Would welcome "some challenge" over "challenges" . . . but will start with one today . . . "I'm going to get out of bed!"====JACK:  Isn't it a blessing that most of us don't even have to ask, "How can I get out of bed?"  We just do it automatically.  A friend of mine, with ALS, is now getting a machine which will allow him to communicate with a synthesized voice.  It's not the same as the voice you and I use (and take for granted), but he and his family rejoice at the invention.====REV:  We are truly blessed with helps that ease formerly complicated lives of many years ago . . . from hearts to limbs, we are greatly blessed.

 FROM IKE AT THE MIC:  A pot hole repair mixture,that could be dispensed out of an attached receptacle to the salt trucks or school buses when available....Just "thinkin"====JACK:  Evidently you've seen (or hit) a pothole, or two, or more.  I know that I have.  How about a type of road construction which would make potholes impossible to form?  Put on your "thinking cap."====IKE:  I've thought of that already & my conclusion is that your suggestion requires 3 things: 1. Money   2. Top notch competent engineers         3. Honest  non-corruptible politicians  That's much more difficult & time consuming to achieve that an  effective pot hole repair system to solve an immediate problem,but it never hurts to hope & dream..

 FROM GOOD DEBT JON:  I’ve been asking the second part of this question often lately. “How, can I do this?” It seems everything (career/hobby wise) I have done in the past has prepared me for the task at hand. I am amazed at how my past failures and lukewarm successes are now important skill sets in creating Stewardship for Life.  Life (progress) requires questions. How can I do this? Who has done something similar in the past? What can I learn from that? Is there something about great nonprofits like; Habitat for Humanity, Housing Works, Twin Cities Rise, or DC Kitchen that I should adopt? Subtract? Add to?  Have a great day Jack; I have to get back to editing a workbook.====JACK:  We often build on the foundation laid by others.  Most "creative types" realize that they are re-creators.

 FROM BBC IN ILLINOIS:  Wait a minute; I thought Eisenhower started the Peace Corps….I recall he started the student program my children travelled with at one point but perhaps my memory is going …already?====JACK:  You'd better check your memory!  Re-researching my info....The basic idea is credited to Hubert Humphrey.   John Kennedy first announced the idea for such an organization in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at The University of Michigan, during the 1960 presidential campaign at a late-night speech, October 14, 1960.  He later dubbed the proposed organization the "Peace Corps." A brass marker commemorates the place (the steps of the Michigan Union) where Kennedy stood.  Critics opposed the program.  Richard Nixon predicted that it would become "a haven for draft dodgers."  I'll have to have Grandson Joe take a cellphone picture of it for you.====BBC:  Ahh  Just looked it up and Eisenhower’s program was “People to People” the student ambassadors travelling overseas representing the US.  Thanks for helping me place a little bit of history.  I was alive in 1960….barely

 FROM FM IN WISCONSIN:  You cannot spent ½ hour on a computer without experiencing this winning word – a win or a fix – a learning!====JACK:  When I first started the using a computer, I was afraid that I would push the wrong key and "ruin" everything.  That fear has vanished, but I occasionally do push the wrong key, and it often takes more than a half hour to get back on track.

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  A few years ago, one of our missionaries to Haiti mentioned that they had no containers to send medicine home with patients who came to their clinic. Our AB women sent out a call to collect empty prescription pill containers, labels removed to send to Haiti. We were inundated with thousands  of medicine containers!!  I collected for the Great Rivers Region, and  sent huge boxes of them, until  the missionaries finally told us that they had several years worth to use up, and storage would  now be a problem!  A small thing but it made a difference to those people!  There are needs everywhere in the world!! We can figure out the "how" ====JACK:  That's a good follow up, showing :"HOW" something "CAN" be done.  I can just picture the Haitian workers..."Enough, enough, enough!"