Jack’s Winning Words 5/8/14
“This is what I was put on earth to do.”  (Steven Spielberg)  Not Jurassic Park or Jaws ...Spielberg’s greatest accomplishment is filming the stories of 52,000 Holocaust survivors, including his parents.  It’s beyond imagination!  Steven says that his parents taught him to do something every day to make the world a better place.  We’ve been put on earth for a reason.  To make the world a better place is a pretty good reason.    ;-)  Jack

FROM PH IN MINNESOTA:  good stuff here, Jack.  thanks as always...====JACK:  Spielberg saw this 20-year project as a mitzvah (good deed) ...putting together eyewitness accounts of the Shoah so they won't be lost as survivors die off.  It involved people from 58 countries, speaking 34 languages. It's beyond good stuff.  It's practically unbelievable!====PH:  part of the motivation as i gather it was from the making of the movie Schindler's List which was one of the most powerful films ever made in my estimation.  one other thought.   there were 11 million who died in the Holocaust: gays, blacks, Poles, mentally ill,  anyone with a physical defect, political prisoners from every nation in Europe, Gypsies, etc.   how come we never hear about them???  not even a monument to their deaths.  i think the Jews have a right to mourn their losses but why do we never hear about the other 5 million? ====JACK:     I suppose it’s because they don’t have an advocate….not because of any concerted effort to keep their stories silent.  There are many “voiceless” people in the world.====PH:  i agree.  still, you would think some survivor or living relative would do something on their behalf and in their memory.  and maybe they have and i just have not heard about it.====JACK:  Suppose that you were to be that voice...What would you say?  Spielberg's project was his answer to that question as it related to the Holocaust Jewish people.

FROM TARMART REV:  Sounds like another person I've become acquainted with during my lifetime . . . he came to earth to  give life and to have it more abundantly!!====JACK:  He...you and me and "everyone" has a reason for being.

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  song of the day..."reach out and touch somebody's hand, make this world a better place if we can."====JACK:  Replace the "if" with a "yes."

FROM RI IN BOSTON:  Last night our Bible study group was shown a "clip" from Spielberg's film Schindler's List, a demanding story to document and Spielberg succeeded doing it.  When I stand before God's Throne regarding an account of my own life, having been put here for a reason, I'm not very confident that I fulfilled the assignment I was charged to do.  I shall have to hope for mercy. ====JACK:  I wonder....Has God written on a blackboard, a list of things that are ours to do?...or is it a blank slate, representing "free will?" 

FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  It's truly the only reason...so in pray what I do fulfills that reason. ====JACK:  "Only" seems to be such a limiting word, but I'll accept it, knowing the point that you want to make.====RAY:  Given an understanding of God's Love for man, Jesus' reason and purpose on earth, our created likeness as that of the One who created us and all things, our command to seek first the kingdom and His righteous, and to Love one another as Jesus loves us, what other reason could there be?====JACK:  God only knows!

FROM TRIHARDER:  If everyone was taught that ... I told my kids, "Make the world a better place as a result of you having been here."  and "It's necessary to do more than your share because many refuse to carry their own weight."  I think I got through.====JACK:  Although I don't think I ever spoke those words, I tried to live them...most of the time.  I, too, think that they "got it!"

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  He has touched most people in the world with his movies and his Holocaust quest.  That is a great reason from him to be on this earth.====JACK:  I'm pleased to see that there is a religious dimension to his life.

FROM ED SOON TO BE IN HAPPY VALLEY:  this is a good winning words. purpose. we all need one to be happy.====JACK:  As the saying goes..."Bloom where you are planted."  Since life usually places us in different places in different circumstances in different times...we can "bloom" wherever life puts us...and be happy!

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  Seeing my grandson and his wife at the baptism of their first child was a very joyous occasion.  The baptism was in Kill Devil Hills at Our Redeemer by the Sea.  Just remembering the journey of being a mother in the early days was fun. Because of the culture today it seems to be much harder unless you do have a strong faith.====JACK:  Culture does indeed, present difficulties.  However, medical breakthroughs have certainly lessened some of the stress of raising children.  Life has a strange way of replacing one stress with another.  A strong faith is needed, as you so wisely said.

FROM CPA BOB:  My aunt, who grew up in Sarajevo and escaped in 1941 to live the rest of her life in Italy, is one of the 52,000.====JACK:  I hope that you were able to get a copy of the interview so that your children, grandchildren and future generations may become "acquainted" with your aunt.