Jack’s Winning Words 7/13/15
“You have to be careful who you let define your good.”  (Lois McAllister Bujold)  One of the disturbing things about a “political year” is how people generally are so willing to accept as true whatever politicians say, or whatever the ads say.  I’m not going to let them define for me “what is good.”  I learned “good” from my parents, my Sunday School teachers and from the professor who taught my ethics class.  There’s a song, “They can’t take that away from me.”    ;-)  Jack

FROM BS IN ENGLAND:  How true!====JACK:  Who defined "good" for you?====BS:  I like you received the meaning of " good " from my parents, Sunday school teachers and  special priests that I  have admired along my life's journey.  Not least to follow the good our Lord radiated.

FROM RS IN TEXAS:  Yes - and then we wonder why Congress has an approval rating in the single digits.  Unfortunately, campaigns will say about anything - true or not - to further their agenda, get elected, and keep the PAC and lobby money flowing in.====JACK:  I'm going to ask my US Senator (a personal friend) who defines good for him?  Perhaps you might want to ask one of your politicians the same question.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Great quote!  It's amazing how easily people are misled by what they see and hear in the television!  One saying my parents used over and over was "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear!"====JACK:  People should be discriminating when they sit in the pew, too...maybe not to the extent of your parents' saying.====JUDY:  They weren't talking about sermons or church services but gossip.

FROM HUNGRY HOWIE:  If more people understood your winning words today we would all be better off. I think people look for confirmation of what they want to believe and ignore all the rest. What is lost in school and at home is the teaching of critical thinking. That is to fully consider a subject both the pro and con must be given equal weight.====JACK:  If, just sometimes, we could admit that there is truth beyond what we believe...in various areas of thought.  But, like many of the rest, I tend to tune in to messages that support what I think to be true.  Mea culpa!

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  how true in this bombastic season of politics!====JACK:  Now, if people could just get as worked up about fulfilling the gist of the Commandments and the teachings of Jesus.====SP:  don't hold your breath but its still a great goal to work for...====JACK:  What do we have without hope?  Despair!  There's too much of that already.

FROM DAZ IN COLORADO:  AMEN====JACK:  I see that your response is all in caps.  That must indicate strong agreement.

FROM HY YO SILVER:  I often let the bad I see define the good.  Meaning, the flaws I see (or so I label them) in the actions of others - or even myself - is an alert for me and I classify that as The Opposite of what I should do.  I often behave based on what I've seen in the past and will seek to adjust in the future.====JACK:  Conscience!  Do you think that everyone is created with an inner sense of what is morally right...or is everyone created "sinful" (inclined to evil) unless directed otherwise?  I like the words of Edward Hoch::  "There is so much good in the worst of us,  And so much bad in the best of us,  That it hardly behooves any of us  To talk about the rest of us." ====HYS:  You're asking about nature versus nurture.====JACK:  Has that question ever been answered?

FROM BB IN ILLINOIS:  Love the song and want to send along a few articles… will see how the day goes.====JACK:  George Gershwin is a treasure.  It's said that many of his tunes evolved from music that he had heard in the synagogue.

FROM JUDYE:  I think the same goes for right and wrong. I learned right and wrong from my parents, Catholic faith/teaching, and from my ethics class and the book How Good People Make Tough Choices/Rushworth Kidder. It seems that often today there is no definition of “good” or clear right and wrong when life decisions are being made. I find this sad. As for me, my faith, moral compass and my mom’s words of wisdom are stamped in my mind and heart. “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,” My Mom.====JACK:  My first Winning Words..."Virtue is learned at mother's knee.  Vice is learned at other joints."