Jack’s Winning Words 9/15/20
“If we don’t heal our ‘hood, who will?”  (Nelly, the rapper) Grandson John began his business career with the Detroit Land Bank which seeks to improve ‘hoods by razing abandoned houses and selling the vacant lots to neighbors for $100 to use as garden plots, play areas, etc.  The idea has had mixed results, but “healing” is being tried.  I was amazed as I drove thru an area that had been rehabbed.  It’s still easy to point out blight, but what signs of healing have you seen in your America?  :-)  Jack

FROM WILLMAR REV:  ... in looking more steadfastly at ‘Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’, gives me a healthier perspective in that the best is yet to come! Traveling down through this wide gate of destruction can find one very discouraged and despondent, but helping folk discover the narrower gate spoken of by Christ, one sees healing and restoration on many fronts!” (Matthew 7:13) 0;-)===JACK:  The world is our 'hood, right?===REV:  It truly is, Jack, but those “hoodies” choosing to travel through that wide gate and down that wide path to destruction sure are troubling and depressing for this old pastoral gentleman. 0;-===JACK:  So, your job and mine is to change the highway situation to a more positive one!  Good Luck!===REV:  Trying to “bloom” where I’m planted, thinking if I can model, share and introduce Christ and His assurances to those hanging out by that wide gate, maybe He and they and maybe even me will make a difference in a few of those hoodies where they will step into the narrower way instead?! 0;-)

FROM EDUCATOR PAUL:  Yeah!!!!! I got it!!!

FROM ST PAUL:  another good one, Jack.  thanks. ===JACK:  What's your view of the 'hood, these days? ===SP:  hard to say because my "hood" is peaceful,  well kept,  nice folks, lots of trust and neighborliness.   the hood most often depicted in the media is very different than mine and yours, sad to say.===JACK:  I wonder we'd react if our 'hood were faced with the same conditions in poorer 'hoods?  Would we flee (as many have done), or work to bring about change.  It's such a tough struggle to do what our conscience tells us what is the right thing to do. ===SP:  I agree with you. and the White Flight to the burbs over the decades has hurt these neighborhoods all the more.   do you recall when Pontiac had mandated busing in the late 1960s?   there was a mass migration once that law went into effect. ===JACK:  Yes, I began to start my New Mission Congregation at that time.  Good News/Bad News...we lost some prospects over the fear that school-age children would be bused to "force" equal opportunity education.  It didn't happen.  But "school of choice" did happen where children out of the neighborhood could enroll in neighborhood schools, if there was room available.===SP:  i recall that those in the Pontiac system that could move out,  did so.  others put their kids in private or Catholic schools. and what was left were some, like retirees, who did not want to pay higher taxes for any reason so 9 millages failed in a row if my memory serves. so the entire school  system suffered a lot! ===JACK:  "Senior" communities (not all) are notorious for voting down school millages.  "We don't want integrations, because it will lower property values."  And..."New schools and school improvements will raise our taxes, and we want lower taxes."  People often vote with their feet. 

 FROM RS IN TEXAS:  Haven’t seen it first hand, but a man in Atlanta took a neighborhood called Eastlake, where you were more likely to die before 18 than graduate high school and totally transformed it. If you haven’t heard of it you might want to Google it. It’s an inspiring story. ===JACK:  Is it really true that..."Birds of a feather...."

FROM SHALOM JAN:  Good morning, Jack, I have another recommendation for your grandson, John.  "Tiny houses".  There is already an organization in Detroit that has placed tiny houses (largest is 600 sq. ft.) on an abandoned piece of property.  A congregation in Plymouth sponsored the build of one house, and helped construct it.  They are amazing and they are built into "neighborhoods".  Tiny houses have been built for special groups, such as veterans, but the article in The Christian Century sometime in the past year, indicated that the project they wrote about had a mixture of singles and couples of all sorts of backgrounds.  I'd like to see our synod get involved in Detroit church neighborhoods in some way, encouraging congregations to use their "endowment" funds for such projects rather than for "keeping our church doors open" for a handful of congregants, though the ELCA doesn't have any of those kinds of congregations in Detroit itself, but there are some in the 'burbs.  Thank you for re-establishing me in your blog of WWs. ===JACK:  I think that the Tiny House project in Detroit has been spearheaded by a Methodist Pastor who was an Albion College classmate of my daughter.  She always seemed to have the "social justice" agenda in her life.  All of the abandoned houses in Detroit that have been razed were part of thriving neighborhoods.  Yes, what happened is part of a long story.  What's to keep the Ting House Project from suffering the same fate?===JAN:  Answer:  the same thing that keeps any neighborhood from suffering that fate.  It's called neighborliness.  There are some thriving neighborhoods in Detroit because the people who live there watch out for one another.  They care about one another.  Same thing here in Pontiac where I live.  There are also rundown neighborhoods where people pay rent for houses and apartments owned by "I don't give a hang" landlords.  No one holds the landlords to account.  Healthy neighborhoods are where residents will help a neighbor get what they need, whether it's food, justice, or heat.  Healthy cities have bureaus that do the same.  It works only as we work, together, and hold governments accountable, as well.  Yes, that seems idealistic, yet there are more places where those ideals are lived out than there are where they are not, thank God!===JACK:  I know first-hand that the Land Bank has been a good thing...not perfect, but "baby steps" toward a long-term solution.

FROM NRC IN NV:  I love my ‘hood. ===JACK:  Good neighbors make for good 'hoods.  Neighborliness tends to create good neighbors. 

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  People are stronger in their love of God, love of people, love of freedom and love of their neighbors.  At least, in certain areas.  The only coverage from media in negative and destruction.  I tend to watch and read groups of people who are positive. ===JACK:  Am I right in surmising that farm folk are more neighborly than "city slickers?"===OJ:  I’m not sure of that fact because I lived in the city most of my life and I always had great caring neighbors.===JACK: My wife's brother lives in a rural area where neighbors get together for coffee each Tuesday mid-morning in one-another's kitchen.  Does that sound like fun?===OJ:  Absolutely.  We’re going to have barn potlucks and dances.  We were all set for Spring but you know that story.===JACK:  Why does square dance caller yell, "Do Si Do?"

FROM SK IN SJ:  It’s good to hear of people helping each other. Treat others like you would want to be treated. Love and hugs to you and Joan. Ps: I got my hair Cut and colored yesterday. No silver for me yet! Ha!===JACK:  It's good to hear that your community is working to integrate Somalian refugees.  While probably not all are "on board," neighborliness is being tried.  BTW< how long before Goldilocks joined the "silver-haired" crowd? 

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  We have a lot of tall buildings ===JACK:  Are the tall buildings condos or offices?  I was of the opinion that you lived in a typical Florida neighborhood with one-story no basement houses, painted white.===SHIRL:  The tall buildings r all downtown! Our neighborhood is typical with split levels one story and two story houses!

FROM NORM'S BLOG:  I have a tendency, as I suspect many do (care), while watching the nightly news casts, reading the paper or seeing things posted on-line to say things like “Somebody ought to do something about that”, or maybe “Somebody ought to fix that.” Those a cop-outs. The somebody who needs to do something is I. How can I look at a story in the news about systemic racism and not examine my own contribution to that problem- my fears or preconceived notions that lead me to jump to racist conclusions upon encountering a black person or to pull back for no good reason when encountering a member of the LBGTQ community. I am the somebody who needs to do something and that something starts with me.===JACK:  As the old song goes..."Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."

FROM BB IN CHGO:  Proud to hear that John has a career start that sounds personally rewarding as well as financially rewarding.===JACK:  It was a good career start and helped him to see the value of non-profits.  It elicits questions from those reading his resume.  "What's a land bank?"