*Jack’s Winning Words  4/22/22

“To leave the world better than you found it, sometimes you have to pick up other people’s trash.”  (Bill Nye)  Today is Earth Day!  A recent article in the Detroit Free Press says that the rate of recycling in Michigan has nearly doubled in the last 3 years.  This amounts to an additional;500,000 tons of waste that does NOT go into landfills.  In the Bible Cain asks of God: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  The implied answer is that mankind is inter-related, and what affects one, affects all.  What are you doing to try and make the world better than you found it?  ;-)  Jack   

FROM THE SCIENTIST:  Just took the recycling out to the corner. Glad we have that option.  Hoping to eco-friendly the yard this summer. Improve the soil, cut back on fertilizers, look at adding native plants. Little things add up, but how to do it on a big (system-level) scale?===JACK:  I remember, about 30+ years ago...It was garbage day and my neighbor and I were taking out trash (including newspapers) for pickup.  He asked, "Do you think that we'll ever get into recycling these newspapers and other junk?"  We've made lots of progress since then, but lots more remains to be done.

FROM THE FISH IN NOVA SCOTIA:  A whale and his pal, a herring, used to go into a certain bar every Friday after work.  One Friday, the bartender was surprised to see just the herring arrive, and the herring was in a very foul mood. The bartender expected to hear something about this from the herring, but didn't, and finally said, "Where's your buddy?"  The herring snapped back, "Am I my blubber;s kipper?"===JACK: Adam and Eve must have had their hands full when raising Cain.  But I guess they dad as much as they were Abel.

FROM WILLMAR REV:  Following the guidelines set before me by local government and have given up any hopes of a private jet and limousine service, but still driving a gas guzzling automobile until the leaders in DC and their cronies decide to lead by example. I'm setting out my recycling this morning too before leaving my house. 0;-)===JACK:  I thought that in the rural area where you live the parson's were still driving a horse and buggy...with hay as the fuel.  Which reminds me...A little boy was watching the milkman deliver milk from a horse-drawn wagon.  When the milkman came back from a house after making a delivery, the lboy said: "You're not be able to go on, mister.....Your horse lost all his gasoline."

FROM HONEST JOHN:  Cain is not his brothers keeper.   He is to be his brother’s caregiver===JACK:  I did not have a brother, but I did have a younger sister...and I did watch over her...and she was so pure that she became a preacher's wife.  If we had lived in later times, she would have been a great pastor.  In fact, has become one...only without a collar.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  cLEAN UP MY LITTLE CORNER....!==JACK:   If you do your part, and I do my part....what a clean(er) world this would be.

FROM NORM'S BLOG:   "EARTH IS NOT HAPPY..... "  

Norm Werner posted: " Earth Day 2022 I got this graphic as today's inspirational message and couldn't help but think that earth wouldn't really be in a happy mood, if it were possible for it to have moods. In fact, earth would be in a foul mood just like it's atmosphere. T" I got this graphic as today's inspirational message and couldn't help but think that earth wouldn't really be in a happy mood, if it were possible for it to have moods. In fact, earth would be in a foul mood just like it's atmosphere. Those billions of pesky little any-like creatures who are running around on its surface (and below) and in its skies have created enough pollution to make earth hot under the collar and earth is showing its displeasure with severe weather events, melting icecaps and rising seas. So, on this Earth Day, instead of being happy or blissfully ignorant, we should all be more aware of the impact that we are having on Earth and take heed of the need to change our ways before the Earth finds ways to deal with this infestation of humans. We hear much about the need to all get along with each other; however, if we don't figure out how to get along with the Earth first, that won't matter. As I sat thinking about earth's current state and the direction in which we seem to be heading it occurred to me that the current hot political word of the moment - "woke" - applies. Although it has recently been perverted by politicians to use in a very negative sense for political gain, the definition that I found online for it seems to apply - It suggests rage, passion, resistance, action; seeking to draw a line against the unacceptable - . We all need to become woke to the damage that we are causing to the earth and draw a line against the consequences if we do not make changes. For now at least, this is the only place that we have to live, so destroying it makes no sense - it is unacceptable. Instead of a Happy Earth Day, we need a Woke Earth Day. Let's draw that line.   C