Jack’s Winning Words 7/23/14
“Some minds are like Pullman berths at noon—made up and closed.”  (Harry & Joan Mier)  I chose this quote, knowing that many of you have never slept in a Pullman berth, or even know what it is.  But you do know about people who are closed-minded.  That’s one of the problems with today’s world…people who will not consider other points of view and come to a compromise.  It’s as if compromising means losing.      ;-)  Jack

FROM HY YO SILVER:  Sadly true====JACK:  For some people, compromise is just a word.  For you, it's an every day experience.  How frustrating that must be.====HY:  "Negotiate" is the present-day taboo "n-word".  No one says it 'cause it is viewed as a bad thing.  Compromise is critically important.  Just don't lose your values.====JACK:  Think how "negotiate" is important, even vital, in everyday living...marital relation...rearing of children...buying a car...diplomacy...setting of salaries.  What does it say about legislators who refuse to "N"?

FROM PLH IN MINNESOTA:  can a guy 6/5 tall fit in a Pullman?  just wondering...====JACK:  I've enjoyed the experience several times and found the rocking of the train quite comfortable.  The movie, Some Like It Hot, has some hilarious Pullman car scenes...One of my favorite flicks.

FROM TARMART REV:  The few times I've ridden a train as an adult for any distance at all . . . it was the "club car" with all the new folk and relationships awaiting my attention that caught my eye.  ====JACK:  I don't suppose that an A of G minister would be allowed to drink a Club Soda in the train's club car.  BTW, since you're a railroad chaplain, do you get to ride the train "free"?

FROM JD IN MINNESOTA:  JACK: I SAW A BUMPER STICKER THAT SAID "OPEN BIBLES CLOSED MINDS". THAT FITS MANY TODAY.====JACK:  I'd like to have Martin Luther here to give an answer to..."What does this mean?"  In lieu of that, "What is your answer?"====JD:  open bibles opens minds to the inscrutable God.====JACK:  Your response reminds me of what Hjalmer one said in class: "You can't unscrew the inscrutable."  I learned a lot from him.

FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: i love their vintage ads with the cat. would be too afraid to sleep in one!====JACK:  I had to look up the ads in order to remember.  Taking off in a jet can be far more scary than sleeping in an upper berth.

FROM RS IN TEXAS:  Couldn't agree more, Jack,  As we hear about all the conflicts in the world - Israel/Palestine, Ukraine, Africa - it's a shame there aren't more peace brokers that can get people to a point of peaceful co-existence (with some reasonable boundaries).  Nice to be able to agree to disagree and get on with life.====JACK:  Conflict is a day by day occurance...road rage, taking cuts in line, misunderstandings in the home and at work...you name it.  My step-father would often use the word "cool" to express "peace."  Cool-er heads are the ones that prevail.

FROM FLYIN' CHUCK:  Sadly I agree Jack! Enjoy your day.====JACK:  In the baseball movie, Bull Durham, there's this line..."Sometimes you win.  Sometimes you lose.  Sometimes it rains."  Every time is not a win or lose situation.  That's where compromise comes into the picture.

FROM KANSAN DON:  I resist being "conservative" or "liberal" -- at least in my mind.  I prefer being "open."====JACK:  I used to think that way, too, but political circumstances have caused me to lean off center. ====DON:  I'll admit I attend the monthly Democratic meetings (don't know when the Republicans meet).  My financial 'mites' have very rarely had GOP on the label.
Everyone writes for my support, suggesting I match the Koch brothers.  Who let out the secret that I am a "millionaire"?  Still I must admit Scripture bothers/challenges me: where your treasure is. . . .

FROM THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR:  "Night Time on The City of New Orleans - changing cars in Memphis, Tenn - I'm the train they call .......  My grandmother, back in the day, would visit us from Washington, D.C. and she use to take the Baltimore & Ohio train (overnight)  to the now defunct Michigan Central Depot - there were plenty of Pullman Cars at the station.====JACK:  I love that song.  I used to work as a baggage handler at the railroad station in my home town.  At night I would sometimes would have to pull the wagon to the train as it pulled in and transfer a casket into the baggage car.  Mail was carried by the train, so I would also have to load the many mail bags.

  FROM BLAZING OAKS:  IT'S BEEN MANY MANY YEARS SINCE I TOOK MY 3YR OLD AND ONE YR OLD ACROSS COUNTRY BY TRAIN TO SEE AUNT JAN AND UNCLE HAL.IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON.....THE BOYS LOVED SLEEPING ON THE TRAIN!  OUR CONGRESSIONAL PARTIES HAVE BECOME SO ALIENATED,  WITH PARTISAN WARFARE  AND PERPETUAL GRIDLOCK THAT ANY COMPROMISE SEEMS LIKE CAPITULATION!! THE LAST THREE  PRESIDENTS  HAVE DEALT WITH THIS, AND IT IS NOT LIKELY TO END, IT SEEMS!  AH ME!!  THEY CERTAINLY ARE NOT IN DANGER OF BEING SO OPEN MINDED THAT THEIR BRAINS FALL OUT!! (MY G.SON'S PHRASE) ====JACK:  The intransigence of the politicians is the result of wanting to keep their job and their clout.  Gridlock does not get the job done, but it protects the pols.

FROM HCC CHUCK:  I think I have asked this B4 but have you ever read   " "The closing of the American mind" by Bloom????====JACK:  I can't remember that we have talked about the book, but after reading a synopsis, I get the drift.  While it's difficult to surmise how a past generation would react having been placed in today's world, I think that teens (for the most part) would be teens, and fogeys would be fogeys.