From Whence Cometh JACK?

As an English major and Anglophile, whose ancestry

hails largely from the British Isles, this "JACK"

has a certain fondness for his namesake flag.

Did you know my nickname is JACK? 

That's right... "J - A - C - K"... you know, like "Jack-be-nimble, Jack-be-quick," or Jack and the Beanstalk.  

I am not kidding...

Many of my friends and colleagues call me "Jack" not "Jordan." 

Others of my family, friends, and colleagues are, however, still in the dark about this nomenclatural phenomenon of mine, which has developed over the course of the past couple of decades.   

To illustrate the consequences of this lingering confusion, consider the following exchange that recently took place between a friend of mine and my Parents-in-Law.... 

A few weeks ago, my friend saw Lina's mom and dad. He happens to know them personally—better, in fact, than he knows me—so he approached them naturally, and as a matter of clarifying chit-chat queried:

JACK-o-lantern

"Hello Tuckers! Hey, isn't Jack your son-in-law?"

With blank stares on their faces, Pa- and Ma-in-Law Tucker looked at their friend and replied, quite honestly: "No; we don't have a son-in-law named "Jack," leaving my friend as confused as my folks-in-law. Suffice it to say, it took the three of them a little while to sort out the situation and clarify that "Jack" was in fact "Jordan" and vice versa, leaving all three to walk away from the conversation scratching their heads. The next time I saw my friend he jovially retold this story to me. We both had a good laugh, after which he left saying: "See you later, Jack, Jordan, JJ!" 

Just for the RECORD, I answer enthusiastically to all three names!  

Nevertheless... in an effort to prevent future befuddlement of this nature, I am writing this blog article to clarify the issue and formally answer the question:

"From Whence Cometh Jack"?

     The story goes like this... 

As many of you know, I am a poet, and I love, Love, LOVE poetry.

I love hearing it.

     I love reading it.

          I love reciting it.

               I love composing it.  And most of all...

                    I love living it!  

In fact, I have written an entire book full of original poetry—click HERE to BUY.

Moreover, dozens of famous poems (or poem sections) stand ready for recitation at a moment's notice at my memory's command. If you don't believe me, just ask me sometime and I'll be happy to oblige because I LOVE reciting poetry!  

I first started writing poetry in the early 1990s when I was in 6th grade as part of a poetry project my classmates and I were assigned in language arts. Later on, in college and throughout my twenties, I began writing poetry prolifically, inspired almost exclusively by TWO (2) key subjects:

ROMANCE and PERSONAL LEADERSHIP (a forerunner of SAL). 

As a young, single adult, cupid's arrows were
many and varied and hit me from all directions.

At the time I was a young, single, and marginally immature fella in my early-mid twenties whose social development had been significantly delayed and retarded by obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in my teens and early twenties. 

Furthermore, I was at this time of my life reflexively infatuated with about every tenth single woman who caught my eye or crossed my path; and considering there were multiple universities and tens of thousands of young, single women in the area where I lived at the time, you can imagine the variety of conundrums in which I often found myself as a result.

Looking back, some of my approaches were pretty pathetic and did not always reflect positively on me. Nevertheless, it was all part of an overall growth curve, learning space, and extended period of social maturation that was necessary to prepare me for a serious, long-term relationship in the bonds of holy matrimony several years down the road.  

Suffice it to say, I have always loved ROMANCE and everything to do with it, and I was determined to not let my fears hold me back from "going-for-it" in the realms of romantic pursuits in college and beyond. In my mind, there was no such thing as a woman being "out of my league." No doubt many women I pursued believed otherwise, and no doubt many other people believed that about many of the women I was wont to pursue; but I absolutely refused to ever believe it myself. Like every other area of my life, I was determined to shoot for the stars and live without regrets. If I got rejected, I got rejected—and most of the time I did get rejected. 

Nevertheless, I stubbornly affirmed and reaffirmed to myself that the only true failure in anything—including ROMANCE—was the failure to TRY.  

Sometimes this attitude got me into trouble—landing me into preventable snafus I would certainly avoid if I had to do it all over again. You might say I was committed to "Embrace Cringe" long before it had become a meme—and when Taylor Swift was still just a teenager!

But in the main, it taught me vital lessons (although usually the hard way) while gradually building my confidence and refining my approach to the point where I would eventually find great success in this important realm of my life's journey.   

In my view, few experiences in life can top authentic
and mutually-experienced romantic feelings and adventures.

To me, there are few (if any) things or experiences in this world that can match the excitement, adventure, and euphoria of romance. And while mutually experienced romantic feelings and experiences are by far the BEST—as being genuinely adored, appreciated, cherished, and loved romantically by another person is by far one of life's richest potential endowments—I daresay that even one-sided romantic feelings can still be intoxicatingly adventurous, even though disappointment inevitably ensues, something I am very familiar with since the vast majority of my romantic overtures toward other women were rejected prior to winning the heart of my wife, Lina.

Consequently, my circumstances in colleges—which involved being surrounded by literally legions of potential romantic partners—could be INTOXICATING at times for a guy like me who had always found it easy to fall in love (or at least deeply infatuated) with whomever I perceived as potentially the Right Girl at any given moment in my pre-marital life. Said intoxications were so powerful that it led to an explosion of energy and creativity with regards to not only flirting and dating, but to my composition of romantic poetry as well.  

My ROMANTIC dreams were finally

consummated upon marrying Lina Tucker

on August 8th, 2008—a date remembered as 8/8/8

Unfortunately—or fortunately—depending on how you look at it, my results never came close to matching my energy and creativity in the romance sector—that is, of course, until I met Lina; but that would not come until several years down the road.

Painful though it often was in the present, this was okay—nay, this was PERFECT—for my future because romantic failure kept me out of a good deal of trouble that I might have gotten into had I been more successful in my many pursuits. Moreover, the price I had to pay for winning Lina's heart made the reward that much sweeter in the end.

Thus, it is worth noting that:

The HARDER you have to work for something (or someone), and the more you FAIL along the way, the more you appreciate it (or in my case, her) when you finally earn the reward. This is partly why winning Lina's heart was, for me, better than finding a mountain of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow.  

Click HERE to read about Dr. JJ's Rocky Road of Romance.  

Despite my lack of success with the ladies prior to winning Lina's heart, ROMANCE itself became a powerful muse for my mind, heart, and pen during this stage of my life. 

Click HERE to BUY this book

Being thus driven by what I viewed to be two of my life's ULTIMATE QUESTS—

1). To find and woo the woman I'd eventually marry, and

2). To build a successful business from the ground-up based on Self-Action Leadership,

is it any wonder, then, that most of my poetry revolved around these two defining subjects of that period of my life?

Click HERE to BUY Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection by Dr. JJ.  

During this same period of time, I thought it would be fun to employ a pen name when composing in verse. Thus, Jordan would be the author of all my professional prose and JACK would be the pen behind my poetry.

And that is where "JACK" comes from; it is an erstwhile pen name I employed when composing poetry.

JACK jumped over
the Candlestick

However, a few years after I began composing poetry as "JACK," I concluded it would simplify things for me and my readers if I just stuck with "JORDAN" for all of my formal, published work, including poetry, which is why it says: "Jordan R. Jensen" on the bottom cover of Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection.

It was at this point in time that you might say I consciously killed off "JACK." 

Fast forward a half-decade or so, however, and I got bored one day while ordering food at a fast-food restaurant. In an effort to combat my mind's momentary maze of ennui—a frustrating, painful, and continually reoccurring experience I suffer from in my life—I spontaneously decided to blurt out "JACK" instead of Jordan when asked for my name. Enjoying this little game, I afterwards began to develop a habit of referring to myself as "Jack" when a fast food employee or food server asked me what my name was.

From there, this tradition gradually spread to a small group of my friends and associates. Over time, I decided I really liked having a professional persona for my formal work and published writing and a casual moniker for less formal occasions among colleagues and friends. In fact, I liked it so much that I started using it more and more until one day I determined I was going to make a concerted effort to get people to start calling me "JACK" on a regular, personal basis.  

Jack & the Beanstalk  ~  Romantic Version

Now, I'm not gonna lie... it has taken some time and effort to accomplish this feat. Had I not been determined to make it happen, I would have given up long ago and just settled on "Jordan" alone for the rest of my life, which would have been okay because I love the name Jordan even more than I love the name "Jack."

"Jordan," however, is more suited to formal settings than casual ones. It also has two syllables instead of one, making it linguistically and rhetorically less efficient than "Jack."

For better or for worse, I have never been short on supply when it comes to determination, focus, and persistence, so it's not surprising that I stayed the course until I finally got "JACK" to stick on an informal basis.  

It's always nice to have options, right? So toss "JJ" in there, and you've got at least three choices when calling my name—which, may come in handy if you ever find yourself getting bored like I do.

Along the way, however, there have been moments of confusion for many people. Such confusion has even caused me to consider going back to just "JORDAN." The problem with that course, is, of course, that an attempt to do so at this point would only spawn greater confusion! Consequently, it appears the damage has been done; my efforts were successful—for better or for worse—and now I'm gonna have to stay the course with "JACK" whether I (or other people) like it or not.  

Fortunately, I like it! 

     And it seems most others are okay with it also.   

Jackie-boy Daddy-man with his three young Jacklings

Yes, "JACK" is here to stay—at least among my close friends, colleagues, and many strangers (such as food servers)—and now for my readers as well. And I'm okay with this because I really do like the name "JACK." Perhaps second only to "JOE," "JACK" is the penultimate All-American name—so delightfully simple and one-syllabic. It's also beautifully British, which scores big points in my book as well!  

It's short.

     It's simple.

          It's casual.

               It's easy.

                    It's AWESOME!

World War I Victory Medal
Photo from medalsofamerica.com

It is also worth noting that it was primarily the "Joes" and "Jacks" from America and Great Britain who saved the world from tyranny and evil, not once, but twice in the first half of the twentieth century. My paternal grandfather, Ned Jensen, was one of those American "G.I. Joe's" to whom freedom-loving people everywhere owe a tremendous debt of gratitude.

As Winston Churchill so eloquently put it: "Never in the history of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few." 

Thank You, Joe!  

     Thank You, Jack!

I'll never forget what you did for us, and for the rest of my life, I'll never stop honoring you—from the bottom of my heart to each and every letter of my multiple names—and beyond!

I'm so proud of you both!  

     And I'm so proud to (sort of) be a JACK!

World War II Victory Medal
Photo from medalsofamerica.com

On the covers of my books and other published materials, or when speaking from the podium, pulpit, or stage, I'll always be "Jordan"; and that is how it should be. But among my closer friends and colleagues, it seems I'm destined to be "JACK" for the balance of my days in this world.

So it goes... and it's all helped to combat some of my life's neurotic experience of existential and otherwise momentarily circumstantial ennui—which is an ongoing challenge I suppose will follow me to varying degrees and extents to the grave.

That's the bad news.  

But the GOOD NEWS is that stuff like "JACK" has helped address and palliate these negative symptoms, which I really appreciate!

So... thank you for your support and understanding, all confusion and annoyances notwithstanding! 

—Dr. JJ (aka JACK)

April 5, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 315th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 141st consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 314 FF Blog Articles. 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES.  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS.   

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Current Events, Cultural, Philosophical, & Miscellaneous Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to learn more about Freedom Focused

Click HERE to learn more about Dr. Jordan Jensen

Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks