Jack’s Winning Words 8/26/14
“Some people walk in the rain.  Others just get wet.”  (Roger Miller)  Go to YouTube and watch Gene Kelly do “Singing In The Rain.”  It’s a perfect example of being in the rain and not caring about getting wet.  The resilience of some people is amazing.  Even with the bad “raining down” upon them, they can see the good.  Do you know anyone like that?  They are an inspiration, aren’t they?    ;)  Jack

FROM TRIHARDER:  A day that I will remember always, my son was about 12 years old.  A torrential downpour was approaching.  We were watching the rain get harder and harder.  We decided we would go out in the hardest rain either of us could imagine. The rain got harder and harder as we stood there laughing in our rain-proof outfits getting drenched inside and out. Jill was incredulous as she watched her two boys playing in the rain. It was the type of rain that soaks you to the bone; that even a towel can't dry.  Well-worth the effort.====JACK:  Times we spend with our kids, raining or not, are the best of times...the source of memories.

FROM SF IN MICHIGAN:  Thanks, I needed this one today!====JACK:  I sometimes wonder, as I send out Winning Words each morning, whether what I'm doing is making a difference to anyone besides me.

FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  I think of Viktor Frankl and his story about the Jews and their plight in concentration camps. He focused on how our freely chosen responses to our circumstances makes all the difference, and how "meaning" serves Life -- even in the worst of places and situations. Admittedly, their experience was much worse than enduring some "rain" in their day; but it makes living with "inconveniences" much less annoying in my wonderful world.====JACK:  I was recently talking with a Jewish friend (who lost relatives in the Holocaust).  I raised the question about whether or not there was good that came out of that event...such as establishment of the nation of Israel.  He brought up the potential that was lost in each life that was lost. 

FROM TARMART REV:  Have many and always enjoy being around them as they inspire me on!!====JACK: People who (love) people are the luckiest people in the world.

FROM DAIRYLAND DONNA:  Actually Maya Angelou could have grown into a bitter, sad human being with what happened to her when she was young. Yet, look what she did with her life. Some people are amazing.====JACK:  You are so right....and Nelson Mandela is another.

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  i love to walk in the rain.  i enjoy the rhythm, the puddles, and oh the sweet smell.  singing while walking is second nature whether the sky is sunny, cloudy, or falling! ====JACK:  Speaking of rhythm, I like the Eddie Rabbit Windshield Wiper song....Oh, and I know another that you probably like..."Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head."  A couple of songs for your day!

FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  My joy was to take an internet course Coursera twice so far. Prof. Madhu, University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana, teaches it. We watch video after video of staff and students interviewing people in India, Africa, South-America and he has also done this project in places in the U.S.A. "Subsistence Marketplaces". The rain is raining down and people aren't just getting wet--the Prof. believes and teaches that everyone has strengths, that the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid have the most skill and insight into survival, are, in fact, experts at survival and people seeking to help them need to develop skills of "listening to what they have to say", that this is the most responsible and helpful way to respond to the needs of the poor, but also of the whole human community. I'm taking the course for a third time this coming January and practicing some of the things have learned in the course but above all what is catching is Prof. Madhu's belief that everyone knows something, everyone can contribute to making the world a better place to live in and also that richer people need to give up some of their inauthentic thinking and learn from the poor. But he doesn't only teach it abstractly, he goes right into the locations and talks to people and videotapes and gives the students a chance to get at least a glimpse of the relationships and that he has been welcoming into his own thinking the insights of the poor and learning from them. The Prof. became humble and advises others who wish to be helpful for the poor to do likewise. It's a great class!!!!! ====JACK:  There was a course in seminary once where a student was dropped off on "Skid Row" with nothing in his pocket and left to live there for several days.  Talk about a reality show!  My days in seminary were not as challenging as that.

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  That is the point of being an optimist, I guess.====JACK:  That reminds me of another song..." Look for the silver lining   When e'er a cloud appears in the blue.   Remember somewhere, the sun is shining   And so the right thing to do is make it shine for you.   When e'er a cloud appears in the blue.   Remember somewhere, the sun is shining   And so the right thing to do is make it shine for you."  That's an optimistic song, isn't it?

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  My twin sis and I used to sing "Look for the Silver Lining" when we did programs for service organizations, etc in High School. Love that song!  And our church men's quartette still sings "Have A Little Talk With Jesus".  Love the way you refer to so many songs, in your blog responses!  What about Nick Vujicic, born without arms or legs, now an inspirational speaker world wide, a husband and father....who experienced cycles of hope and despair?  He is remarkable!!!====JACK:  The "Nick" story can be Googled.  It's good!  I suppose you know that one of the stars of the movie, "Look For The Silver Lining," was June Haver who was born in Rock Island, Ill.  Of course, you knew that!

FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  One if my favorite entertainers. Love his "You can't roller skate in a buffalo  herd."====JACK:  Have you tried roller skating...let alone with a buffalo herd?  One of his first songs was..."There's a picture on the wall. It's the dearest of them all, Mother."  His family grew up "dirt poor" during the Great Depression.  He was part of The Greatest Generation.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  One of our all-time favorite movies!  My sister Val has overcome a lot of serious stepping stones in her life.  She just keeps dancing, or she will be Able to dance in a few months.  She shattered the connecting bones behind her knee.  By the way,  they used a lot of milk to make the rain show up in Gene's dancing in the rain number!====JACK:  Singing in the rain sounds better than singing in the milk.