Jack’s Winning Words 5/5/17
“If you are helping someone and expecting something in return, you are doing business not kindness.”  (Unknown)   A Latin saying seems to fit…quid pro quo.  “You scratch my back , and I’ll scratch yours,” could be a modern translation.  It’s interesting how quid pro quo takes legs in today’s world, i.e., political contributions with return favors expected...sexual harassment in the workplace.  Helping someone, just out of kindness, should be our goal.    ;-)  Jack

FROM HONEST JOHN:  It usually gives you a better feeling when the person you help is not in a position to pay you back.....maybe, he or she just becomes a friend...====JACK:  While I appreciate favors done for me, I'm left with the feeling that I should do something in return for the favor-giver.  Someone advised me:  Just say, "Thank you," and let it go at that.====HJ:  Art Larson under whom I served one summer...after one year of seminary, advised me to earn to accept favors and say "thank you"....it was great advice.

FROM LBP MOVING TO K-ZOO:  Last night someone paid our dinner bill. "The gentleman who was sitting a few tables over." The server spoke as if it was a common thing that happens there. "I always want to tell right away but that would ruin the surprise" he says after telling us we have no bill to pay. Well, we were surprised. It was a kind gesture as we were exploring our soon to be new home town.====JACK:  It seems as though you've "got a pal in Kalamazoo."  Did you get a chance to say "thank you" to the angel?  Someone once did that for our young family.  A wave of the hand from him made it extra special...and I've never forgotten it. ====LBP:  No. Whoever it was had left. Yeah. Made an impression for sure.====JACK:  Maybe the payback is to do something similar for someone, especially having the children involved.  "Do you remember when someone paid for our meal when we didn't know about it....?"

FROM FLA-MI SANDI:  Yes. A Mitzvah is a kind deed without anything in return. That's why tending to the dead before burial is the truest Mitzvah...the dead cannot give you anything in return.====JACK:   I learn so much from my Jewish friends like you.  A good teacher also will challenge the student to explore further.  So....I discovered that "mitzvah" means, commandment.  I've been taught that Moses delivered 10 Commandments from God to his people.  Now, I find out that the Jews have more than 10...613 of them, 365 negative and 248 positive.  I  also discovered, as you wrote, that a mitzvah is an act of human kindness.  See...You're still teaching!

FROM TRIHARDER:  Kind of like promoting one's donation to charity.====JACK:  Like charitable giving, without caring whether it's tax deductible, or not.

FROM GOOD SAM LEE:  Tell that to Donald😠====JACK:  My father-in-law had a saying which we often quote:  "I am who I am,"  meaning that it's hard for a leopard to change his spots.  To expect that Donald is going to change....It's probably like hoping that the leopard will somehow decide to look like a zebra.  I know that those are not "winning words," but they seem to be reality.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Just imagine this world if everyday everyone would just do a kindness for one person!====JACK:  If everybody did just one act of kindness for somebody...
If we'd all say a prayer that the world would be free,  The wonderful dawn of a new day we'll see!
And, if everyone lit just one little candle, What a bright world this would be!

FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE:  Life is Reciprocity. One of the chapters in my book.====JACK:  I have no problem with reciprocity, except when talking about the love of God, which is giving without expecting anything in return.  I once read about a soup kitchen that would feed the hungry...only if they listened to a sermon ahead of time.