Stop staring at your shoes…

April 21, 2025
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Best of Jack’s Winning Words – Originally sent April 20, 2021
“Always ask yourself what will happen if I say nothing.” (Kamand Kojouri) Each of us has probably been in a situation where we should have kept our mouth shut, or conversely, should have spoken up…but remained silent. One of my favorite Bible passages is Ecclesiastes 3. I like this interpretation: “There’s a time for everything. There’s a time to speak up…and a time to shut up.” One of my WW II heroes is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who spoke out against Hitler and lost his life because of it. When something is right or wrong, it’s our responsibility to speak up or to be complicit. Bonhoeffer is worth emulating. 😉 Jack


The news shows this weekend had stories about the mass protests that occurred over the weekend in various locations around the country. The video accompanying the stores showed hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people out on the streets protesting the actions of the current administration on a variety of issues, all of which boiled down to doing things that are just wrong.


Not everyone is comfortable taking up a sign and joining the protests on the streets and a part of that uncomfortable feeling is the realization that saying nothing against wrongs that need to be righted is a form of compliance or agreement with those wrongs. It’s not that they don’t agree that it is wrong, it mainly is that they fear being identified and perhaps retaliated against for expressing those feelings.
It is that fear of retaliation that the administration is promoting and counting on to keep people inline – especially the people in their own political party. Some in the ruling party have even come out and stated that they fear retaliation if they take a stand in line with their own conscious or convictions. How sad for America.


Sad also is the timid response and lack of leadership of the opposition party. As Jack pointed out, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was willing to risk his life to speak out against the atrocities for the Nazi regime. Many, if not most, of our current day politicians are not willing to risk their political lives (careers) to speak out against what they know is wrong. Instead, they stare down at their shoes in hopes that they can wait this nightmare out.


Politicians on both sides are being pummeled in town hall meetings when they go back home, mainly for their cowardice. The importance of the demonstrations in those town hall meetings and in the streets cannot be overstated. It is only through creating greater fear in the politicians about being voted out of office that these political cowards will be forced to take action to correct what is happening. They must fear the anger of the voters more than they fear retaliation from the administration for doing what is right.


So, ask yourself the question that Kamand Kojouri posed – “What will happen if I say nothing?” The answer to Kojouri’s question is that nothing will change unless you say something. Jack would be out there if he were here today. Stop staring at your shoes and join the protest in support of doing the right things.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Chose to do the right thing…it matters.

April 16, 2025


The Best of Jack’s Winning Words – Originally sent April 6, 2016.
“The only alternative to co-existence is co-destruction.” (Nehru) There’s been some scary talk lately about the use of nuclear weapons. This world is better served by leaders who seek ways to co-exist with diversity than to work toward eradicating any way but “our” way. In any relationship there has to be give and take (bargaining) to make it work. The healthiest families have learned this. Even God bargains: “If you will be my people, I will be your God.” 😉 Jack


I suspect Jack would be appalled by today’s political environment in the United States. I know that if he were still alive he would not be silent about his displeasure with and opposition to the things happening here in America and around the world in places like Ukraine.


I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther King when he said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. There are lots of things that matter under attack right now. Many politicians (usually of a specific party) have chosen to remain silent about what is happening. Not so, obviously, for members of the other political party.


A key thing to watch and understand is why these politicians are remaining silent (or in some cases even defending the wrongs that they see happening). Just like children, they are succumbing to bullying. They are afraid, and in that fear their cowardice and sense of self-preservation overcomes their basic sense of right and wrong. Indeed, some have even convinced themselves that what they see happening is right and good.


Let me stop here and state that I do not disagree that there are many things that need to be fixed or corrected. The issue for me and I suspect many others is the approach that is being taken to solving those problems. That concern about the approach is also what seems to be driving so many of the judicial restraining orders and temporary halts to actions being taken to solve the problems.


Can federal employees be fired or laid off? Certainly, just not in the capricious ways that are currently being employed. Can illegal immigrants be deported? Of course, just not without some level of due process ,as we are currently seeing. Can people disagree with what is happening and voice that disagreement, whether in peaceful protest or in news articles or broadcasts. Yes, that is a fundamental right in the Constitution.


So here we are. People are being rounded up, shipped off to holding facilities thousands of miles from their family and friend or put on planes and flown to foreign prisons all without due process. Major decisions that should be considered, debated and voted upon by our elected representatives are now made by decree. And the restructuring of the federal bureaucracy, which certainly can be defended as being justified and long overdue, continues at a chaotic and destructive pace with no thought or plan in evidence.


While the current politicians in power appear to have chosen the co-destruction option, there is still hope that sanity and some latent sense of right and wrong will prevail. However, we cannot just sit on the sidelines and hope for the best. We must not be silent about things that matter. It is up to each of us and all of us to resist what we know is wrong, even in the face of the bullying that we know will come as a result. What form that resistance takes is also up to each of us. What will you do? It matters.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Things unsaid can cause damage, too…

April 20, 2021

In his post today, Pastor Freed used this quote in his blog, Jack’s Winning Words – “Always ask yourself what will happen if I say nothing.”  (Kamand Kojouri)

Paster Freed went on to write – Each of us has probably found ourself in a situation where…(“I should have kept my mouth shut -.or -Why didn’t I speak up when I had the opportunity?)  One of my favorite Bible passages is Ecclesiastes 3…”There’s a time for everything.  There’s a time to speak up…and a time to shut up.”  (Ed -Actually the Bible verse says a time to speak and a time to remain silent.)

I have a sign on my front lawn that is a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. – “Our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter.”

The point of King’s message and the answer to Kojouri’s quote is that there are consequences associated with remaining quiet, not speaking up or taking action when we witness things that are wrong. That is not to say that it is right to go out into the streets and participate in lawless riots. The looting and burning that we have witnessed in the aftermath of recent racially charge police killings is not the action that either King or Kojouri were alluding to either. They are not a part of the solution and just detract from making progress on solving problems like police brutality by a few rouge officers.

The leaders (inspirational or otherwise) of all great movements in history have been those who chose to speak up about things that mattered and that were wrong. In most cases they were not out rioting in the streets, but rather out there to raise their voices in protest and to demand change (or justice). Many of them, in fact, spoke quietly but forcefully. Many endured hardships or imprisonment (Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela come to mind), but they continued to speak out against the wrongs that they saw in their countries and societies.

In many news casts one sees people of all colors joining in protest against some injustice or wrong that they have seen against a person of a specific color or ethnicity. Those people answered the question that Kojouri asked by deciding that doing nothing was not an answer acceptable to them. Doing nothing  is an answer that does not often lead to change. Just deciding that you won’t go to a planned anti-gay rally is not an action that will cause change. Going to be part of a counter-group to stand in protest of that rally, and the thoughts behind it, is an action which may either change minds or at least show support of the opposite view and the people being targeted.

It is important to ask yourself the question that Kojouri raised and to adopt the philosophy that King espoused when the answer is that the thing that you are considering really matters. There are many things in life upon which you may wish to remain neutral and here will be no harmful consequences, like choosing between Right or Left Twix, for instance. However there are also many things which you may try avoid taking a stance on that can, and do, impact your life and the lives of others; often in ways that you don’t initially understand. It is easy to say to yourself, “This doesn’t impact me, so I will stay out of it.” That is that attitude and inaction that encourages bullying, for instance.

So keep your mind and your options open when you encounter things that don’t seem right to you. Determine if this is something that matters to you or to others around you and ask yourself the question that Kojouri asked. When you have determined that it is something that matters, I think the answer to Kojouri’s question will come easily to you and silence or inaction will no longer be an option.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Time to move our feet…

January 31, 2017

You can think it. You can say it. You can pray it. But, unless you get up and do it, nothing changes. These two quotes, both from the Jack’s Wining Words blog, but which were posted weeks apart seem to go together and seem to be especially appropriate right now.

“Optimism for me isn’t a passive expectation that things will get better; it’s a conviction that we can make things better.”  (Melinda Gates)

“When you pray, move your feet.”  (African Proverb)

We have been thrust into times that demand more of us that just sitting by optimistically hoping and praying that things get better.

Over the weekend groups of people were suddenly been thrust into an unfavorable spotlight for no other reason that where they came from when they came (or tried to come) to America. It was more than just a coincidence that they also happen to mainly praying-muslimshave religious beliefs that are different from those in power here right now. The picture of them on their knees, shoes off, bowed down and praying in an airport is apparently frightening to those who see their religion as a threat. Of course these same “leaders” see people pursuing different lifestyles as a threat, too; enough so that they spend an inordinate amount of time trying to pass laws about what they can and cannot do, with whom and where they can do it.

Those of us who may not have yet joined one side or the other in the happenings around us now find it more and more difficult to sit idly by watching the reports on TV of others who are out and moving their feet in public places in protest to what is happening. The same was true in the 60’s when the Civil Rights movement showed us the dark underbelly of racism and bigotry. Eventually enough people got off their couches and moved their feet to get the attention of those in power. When they did change happened. Recently not enough people moved their feet to keep someone from power that everyone thought shouldn’t be, couldn’t be and wouldn’t be elected to lead the country – #POTUS.

Now we are faced with the need to mobilize and move our feet to prevent the destruction protest-marchof the very values that made America the great country that it is. Instead of continuing to welcome newcomers who will carry forward the wonderful story of success that our diverse history is based upon, the new leaders are trying to shut off the flow of people who strive to be a part of the American Dream. They would have us build walls instead of bridges. They would single out and discriminate against whole nations of people because of their religious beliefs. Where have we seen that idea before?

The really ironic thing is that our new leaders don’t even represent the majority of the population. The majority voted for the other candidate. The very system that was invented to protect the minorities from smaller states, in fact worked to propel the minority into leadership. One has to believe that if the majority got better organized and moved their feet more, change could be effected. In as little as two years enough change is possible in the Legislative branch of our government to stop the insanity currently being wrecked upon, or proposed for, America. In the meantime, there needs to be a vigilant and constant effort in the courts to thwart the most outrageous moves by the current leaders.

This too shall pass; but it will not pass without considerable pain and damage unless enough of the majority in America move their feet and get out on the streets in protest and into court to challenge and into the voting booths next time, to cause change. Yes, we should still pray about it, but we should move our feet, too.

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Posted by Norm Werner