Jack’s Winning Words 3/16/17
“Every gain made by individuals or societies is almost instantly taken for granted.”  (Aldous Huxley)  Let’s see….a Top Ten List of things I take for granted…Nature, Power, People who care, Health, Mind, Food, Clean water, Freedom, Senses, Protectors.  There are more.  Maybe your list would be different.  There’s discussion these days about giving up some things we take for granted, because of cost.  Few people like to see gains turned into losses.    ;-)  Jack

FROM HONEST JOHN:  The problem is that they affect us differently. Those of us who are older and economically secure (we think) don't care that the losses will be by others....so we jut go ahead and vote for them. That, historically, almost always amounts to losses for everyone. WE are too short sided to see that.====JACK:  It's a common failing not to see our neighbor's predicament as our predicament.  That's why only the Good Samaritan stopped to help the wounded man by the side of the road, while members of the establishment passed him by.

FROM SHALOM JAN:  Wow!  You hit the nail on the head with this one.  I keep a journal each night at bedtime wherein I give thanks for ten things each day.  Sometimes those items are "leftovers", "a warm bed", "clean water" and other such prosaic things that I am reminded of by a gracious God for which to be thankful.  The tenth item is always a thank you to God for some quality, characteristic, or action of the Spirit. Journaling helps me to be more aware and grateful.====JAN:  I admire you for having the discipline of saying "thank you" every day.  Most of us just go blithely (I like the sound of that word) on on way taking "life" for granted.  I glad for Rachel Carson and her book, Silent Spring.  Birds, bees and butterflies are more important than we realize.

FROM TARMART REV:  "Few people like to see gains turned into losses" . . . seems to be the ongoing controversies before us in today's health care and troubled immigrants coming to America from their home country's war-faring experiences-- our nation's amounting debt in covering the expense of both challenges in being all-inclusive as possible and with the affordability of taxation to the public for paying for it all. Easier to pray about it than to fix it!?!?====JACK:  I've quoted it before.  "I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day."  As a follow-up, "I'd rather see someone work with God to put their prayers into action...than hear their prayers any day."  Many people complain about taxes, but few of them want give up the things that taxes pay for.

FROM BB IN ILLINOIS:  Great quote. I have not read Huxley in decades and it makes me think I should read him again.====JACK:  I wonder how many of us became acquainted with Huxley by way of assigned reading?  It was that way for me.  "Huxley was a humanist, pacifist, and satirist. He later became interested in spiritual subjects such as parapsychology and philosophical mysticism, in particular universalism. By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the pre-eminent intellectuals of his time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in seven different years."

FROM LBP IN PLYMOUTH:  Huh.  ... something to think about ... those things we forget to think about ...====JACK:  We are bombarded with so much new information each day that we seldom take the time to reflect on yesterday and the day(s) before.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  As R.L. Stevenson said in his bio, "Keep your eyes open to your mercies. The one who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life."  If we are thinking at all we are thankful for some things, even on a bad day ! I am thankful that well into my eighties, I can be in my cozy little bungalow with all the amenities needed, and able to drive my car, & know the love of family and close friends. Eyesight, hearing, we have a plethora of mercies!  One feels guilty to think of all the world's people who have such terrible circumstances, so we do what we can to alleviate the suffering in our little corner of the world!====JACK:  Illness plagued RLS most of his life, but he found that imagination was one way to deal with it.  His poem, "The Land of Counterpane" showed one way.  BTW, do you know what a counterpane is?