Category Archives: Size Matters

The Long and Short of it.

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Saith Me… To Stand not Fight

It is a good and noble thing to stand up for that in which you believe. Sometimes you may even need to fight for your beliefs, but remember when we choose to fight, we are seeking to change the will of others. Changing someone else’s will is not simply changing their mind, but changing their desire to resist the result you propose.

The decision to fight, to try to change someone’s will, should not be decided upon lightly.  Even a fight of words can result in harm and injury.  Before you start a fight, make sure your fight is for something in which you are willing inflict injury to achieve.  Be sure the thing you are willing to injure others over has a great enough value that it will offset the damage you will cause.

We can stand on principles without resorting to a fight, but to do so we much have respect for the principles upon which others stand. In almost all cases, it will be better to stand than to fight.  It is a profound task to figure out the exceptions.

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Saith Me… Old Books

Over the past couple of years, I started collecting old books, not books with great potential for monetary appreciation or the need for insurance policies.  Certainly not books to be kept behind the safety of glass, but books conveying the ideas of past generations on common subjects like knitting.  My collection began with an out-of-print sequel to a more famous literary novel.  The book was worn and tattered but satisfied the craving to know “what happened next.”

The ease in which this book was purchased made me curious to see what else I could find.  School books dating to 1900 led to the fascinating discovery that young women of that “new” century did not necessarily like the idea of home economics and needed encouragement through a form of literary fiction; the ancestor of the self-help TV programming.

Recently an online sale of old books caught my eye and I wondered if I could find some gems to help with a paper I am working on for class.  Justifying the purchase as an early Christmas present, I sifted and sorted (electronically of course) through the stacks of old books. When my purchases arrived I sorted them into the now and later stacks with the now joining me in my office for study.

One particularly delightful old book just begged for perusal and offered up a poignant quote, but the author had been hesitant to sign his name, making citation difficult. No author, no editor just a mysterious professional title. How very odd and rather mysterious (politically mysterious as it would turn out).

However it seems I was not the only one who had questioned this author’s identity.  In 1955 the book first left the original owner’s hands and a note had been written in the front cover explaining the personal, though cryptic inscription.  The author’s name was written by hand by the bookstore agent purchasing the book, along with a brief explanation of the book’s purchase. The book buyer also hand wrote the resale price of $.50, quite the sum I am sure.

Upon conducting a quick internet search, I verified the accuracy of the author’s name and thereby realized that my copy had been a gift from the author to some initialed friend.  In addition to being the author of multiple books on diplomacy, the mysterious man who published his first book anonymously had been a U.S. ambassador in the years that followed the publication.

Old books certainly have stories to tell.

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Music of the Season – Seeking Joy

Now that Halloween is over I can listen to Holiday Music again. (I say Holiday because I love Winter Music as well as Christmas Music.)

I figure the more happy music I listen to the more of the ugliness of the world I can tune out. Not ignore the world, but just buffer myself from it.

I believe completely in being informed, reading and researching and learning, but I also believe I must actively seek joy rather than waiting for someone find it for me.

Happiness does not come from ignorance, but from knowledge. Knowledge is not always pleasant, but understanding is the first step to doing something, making a change.

Winter Music, Holiday Music and Christmas Music simply makes the doing so much more fun. Whether it is service for others or simply cleaning my own house, the quest for joy can be just a melody away.

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Saith Me and My Son… Fear

Fear is the easiest way to distract people from seeing issues clearly. It creates “something worse” and thereby allows bad to be perceived as good.

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Is it a good thing when your kids start arguing with you as to whom the credit for pithy ponderings should go?

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What history will teach us…

What history will teach us…

I recently saw a meme that defined treason as including giving aid to an enemy. It started me thinking about the debate over foreign aid and the role it plays in diplomacy. While I certainly agree that foreign aid must be scrupulously administered and should not be simply a default in the national budget, I disagree on the implication of who one might call our enemy*.

Interestingly, during the years between WWI and WWII the United States, while not enemies with Great Britain, saw Great Britain as being the greatest potential for threat to US security and prosperity**, second only was the rising threat of Japan. These threat assessments were based on the notion that with Germany having been weakened after WWI, a naval, and thereby commercial threat was only really viable by Great Britain and Japan.

Yet, when France fell and Great Britain became bombarded, President Roosevelt devised a scheme to aid Great Britain despite US isolationist rhetoric and congressional policy. So does that mean Roosevelt committed treason by helping a potential threat? Or does it simply mean that an unstable region, a region lacking a balance of power poses a greater threat to US security and prosperity than the potential threat of any one nation?

History teaches us that diplomacy and national policy is not as clear as political talking heads would like us to believe.  I really don’t think history will record much of the opinion of the talking heads, rather history will view the intent, implementation, and result of policy. Then history will most likely teach us we were fools to listen to the talking heads in the first place.

 

 

* enemy is defined as a hostile nation or state. The presence of hostile factions does not make the state an enemy.  Just as the US cannot universally control the ideas and actions of its citizens, the US cannot expect another nation to do that we cannot or will not do ourselves.

** National Security and Prosperity Interests was the terminology used prior to the Cold War when the language changed to National Security Interests.

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Saith Me… The Hardened Heart

When the hearts of the many are hardened and are accepting of hate, it is then there will be woe among mankind and iniquity will prevail.
– Pioneer Lady

 

Gandhi described anger and intolerance as being the enemies of correct understanding, but they are also the enemies of reason.  They spread misunderstanding.

People will disagree on principles, or on the details of an issue, but that is not the same as standing on misinformation, calling it truth, and asserting all others are wrong in their beliefs.  Correct understanding therefor is not just the ability to understand, but the ability to understand the opposition and the ability to reason rather than simply rationalize.

 

 

 

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Compromise or Ripped Asunder

If only the issues could be boiled down into a meme or a sound-bite, the debate might be more civil. But what one sees as unconscionable another sees as freedom; what one sees as dependency another sees as progress. We are not the first generation to struggle over weighty issues, even the founding fathers ferociously disagreed and struggled for compromise.

When we develop passionate views on an issue, we need to remember that it was compromise that got us to this point in history and not the views of just a few. When compromise failed, however, war broke out. And of all presidents in the history of the U.S., even Lincoln, it can be argued that this president understands what is at stake. For when the nation divided the last time, it was over whether some should be free and some should not. But as all our presidents soon learn upon entering office, guaranteeing liberty is not always simple.

So be careful with your ideological wall building and chasm digging, for  history will judge whether your effort moved us forward or ripped us apart. If we allow the defense of our ideological views to destroy the very thing we say we want to preserve, then all our talk of posterity will be for naught.  What will be left for our children will be but a shadow of what we say we defend.Even now, our most precious resources are learning discord rather than compromise as they watch us disintegrate into a split nation and not a united one. So even if we survive this election battleground, what legacy are we leaving our children?  What will they remember and learn from our actions and opinions? This is what I ponder…

He is the President of the United States of America and the lack of respect he has been shown for his willingness to serve the people has been appalling and divisive.
History will not just judge him, but will also judge the people he has served.