Jack’s Winning Words 8/30/16
“I used to use the word diversity all the time.  Now, I’ve learned to use the word inclusiveness.”  (Oprah)  I live in a community which is very diverse…over 60 different languages spoken in the homes of our high school families.  Oprah reminds us that it’s possible to be diverse without being inclusive.  “Inclusive” is an action word, to reach out and welcome in.  We are not really a community, a church, a neighborhood without being inclusive.    ;-)  Jack  

FROM KB IN HL:  Love this pat====JACK:  Yes, it give a different slant to the current situation.

FROM COPPER COUNTRY BOB:  Thanks, Jack for your  words of the past week.====JACK:  I try to make them relevant and thought provoking.

FROM IKE AT THE MIC:  Great message!  That's why I keep encouraging that community events that the Optimist club promotes should INCLUDE,all the local service organizations not exclude Rotary,West Bloomfield Chamber, Parks & Recreation, Kiwanis etc.====JACK:  Some people pride themselves for living in an "ex-clusive" neighborhood.  Not me!

FROM GOOD DEBT JON:  I like this. Diversity underscores differences, inclusiveness calls for working together.====JACK:  I think of Robert Frost's great poem, Mending Wall, written in 1914.  That's the kind of wall I like.====JON:  Agreed. I'll look that one up. I have several Robert Frost books.====JACK:
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why do they make good neighbours? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."

FROM TARMART REV:  ...another "winning word" for added value to ponder this new day and put into action as we greet another fellowman!!====JACK:  My feeling is that God does not want heaven to be ex-clusive.  Each person decides what kind of neighborhood they want to live in. ====REV:  That's and interesting thought...looks like I may need some good walking shoes or wings!!

FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  do you think will we ever quit labeling human beings by color? ====JACK:  I'm afraid that we will always label people.  I would like to think that we will become a little kinder toward each other,,,otherwise I might give up the business I'm in.====LIZ:  we are mostly plenty kind.  problem is there is too much info, too fast. gets blown out of proportion, tweeted about, exploited...people with agendas.====JACK:  There's always room for a little more kindness. imo

FROM MP IN WB:  Very nice.  Would you mind if I sent this to our friends at United We Walk? ====JACK:  It seems to fit.====MP:  I just did a 30 second promo over at CCTV.  In my original script I had the word diverse.  I changed it to inclusive. Your point is so well made.====JACK:  Isn't it interesting how things seem to work out?

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  What an important distinction!  Good thought for today Most of us are in situations with opportunities to be inclusive, if we can see them, and have the will to act on it! God be our guide!!====JACK:  One of the habits I picked up while being a pastor is to scan the crowd to see if someone is "alone" and to try and get them included.

FROM DAZ IN DENVER:  Right on!====JACK:  Too many climbers want to be exclusive.

FROM CS IN RO:  Yes, very good!!!!====JACK:  Some children were watching an artist painting a landscape.  One of them said, "Mister, can you put me in the picture?"

FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE:  Right-on!====JACK:  The trick is always to practice what we preach.====GEORGE:  Sort of like being without guile.====JACK:  It's been a long time since I've seen the word guile used in other than a biblical context.

FROM INDY GENIE:  Good one. :)====JACK:  The number of responses seems to prove it. 

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if we all lived with inclusiveness?====JACK:  It's not everyone's cuppa tea.