The Flower Of Light

Solara:  Have you ever thought that maybe you were lost?
Eli:  Nope.
Solara:  Well, how do you know that you’re walking in the right direction?
Eli:  I walk by faith, not by sight.
Solara:  [sighs] What does that mean?
Eli:  It means that you know something even if you don’t know something.
Solara:  That doesn’t make any sense.
Eli:  It doesn’t have to make sense.  It’s faith, it’s faith.  It’s the flower of light in the field of darkness that’s giving me the strength to carry on.  You understand?
Solara:  Is that from your book?
Eli:  No, it’s, uh, Johnny Cash, Live at Folsom Prison.
[This dialogue is from the movie:  “The Book Of Eli“.  Eli is played by Denzel Washington and Solara is played by Mila Kunis.    —    kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2013	Eye Catching
2012	The Holstee Manifesto
2011	Three Crooners For The Shower
	The Soldier’s Faith
	Vacation, Books And Lots Of Movies

Read Full Post »

Just Support

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
—     Abraham Lincoln
.
On This Day In:
2013	Wandering Free
2012	Contribute = Paying Taxes
2011	How Will You Be Judged?

Read Full Post »

Happy 5th Anniversary

Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling.
—   Gilbert K. Chesterton
[For those of you who are unaware – and I suspect most of you still are – today marks the 5th anniversary of my blog!  Thanks for stopping by.  Come again soon, our best days are still ahead…    —    kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2013	I Resemble That Remark!
2012	Happy 3rd Anniversary
2011	Is America Safe Tonight?
2009	Hello world! (See how it all began…)

Read Full Post »

The Struggle To Educate America Continues…

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.
—    Abraham Lincoln
.
On This Day In:
2013	On Elections
2012	Warm Smiles
	Pick Your Poison
2011	Straight Shooters

Read Full Post »

Worth Anything?

All of us who are worth anything, spend our manhood in unlearning the follies, or expiating the mistakes of our youth.
—    Percy Bysshe Shelley
.
On This Day In:
2013	Bruises Before Bed (Or Why You Didn’t Answer)
	Revealed Riches
2012	Extra Gears
2011	Say What?
2010	Hello Frogs…

Read Full Post »

All Of My Best Ideas Come While Walking…

Let a man walk ten miles steadily on a hot summer’s day along a dusty English road, and he will soon discover why beer was invented.
—     Gilbert K. Chesterton
.
On This Day In:
2013	Learn To Learn
2012	I Remind You
2011	Respect And Prestige
2010	Living Legends (Willie Nelson) and the Gettysburg Address

Read Full Post »

Choose To Lead

The choices we make dictate the life we lead.
—    William “Bill” Rago
The lead character from the movie “Renaissance Man“, played by Danny DeVito
.
On This Day In:
2013	Not Sent Yet
2012	Wall-Crawler Reboot
	Learning To Count
	On Worshiping God
2011	Emancipated Differences
2010	A Little More Technology, Please…

Read Full Post »

Examining Failure

When you win, you don’t examine it very much, except to congratulate yourself.  You easily, and wrongly, assume it has something to do with your rare qualities as a person.  Losing, on the other hand, really does say something about who your are.  …  If you’re willing to examine failure, and to look not just at your outward physical performance, but your internal workings, too, losing can be valuable.
—    Lance Armstrong
From the article:  “Losing Power” in the “Scorecard” section
Appearing in:  Sports Illustrated;  dtd:  30 June 2014
Written by:   L. Jon Wertheim
[Sometimes life is more ironic than fiction.    —    kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2013	Driving Passion
2012	Cannibal, n.
2011	Moments Of Truth

Read Full Post »

How To Become A Saint

See everything, overlook a great deal, correct a little.
And…
Anybody can be Pope;  the proof of this is that I have become one.
—    Pope John XXIII
[Looking down from Heaven, Pope Saint John XXIII might add:  “Anybody can be a Saint;  the proof of this is that I have become one.”  The “Caretaker” Pope who changed history.    —     kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2013	Not Much Change
	Our Biggest Fear
2012	Brain, n.
2011	Styles Of Leadership
2010	Face Front!

Read Full Post »

Peace With Honor

What is the rule of honor to be observed by a power so strongly and so advantageously situated as this Republic is?  Of course I do not expect it meekly to pocket real insults if they should be offered to it.  But, surely, it should not, as our boyish jingoes wish it to do, swagger about among the nations of the world, with a chip on its shoulder, shaking its fist in everybody’s face.  Of course, it should not tamely submit to real encroachments upon its rights.  But, surely, it should not, whenever its own notions of right or interest collide with the notions of others, fall into hysterics and act as if it really feared for its own security and its very independence.
As a true gentleman, conscious of his strength and his dignity, it should be slow to take offense.  In its dealings with other nations it should have scrupulous regard, not only for their rights, but also for their self-respect.  With all its latent resources for war, it should be the great peace power of the world.  It should never forget what a proud privilege and what an inestimable blessing it is not to need and not to have big armies or navies to support.  It should seek to influence mankind, not by heavy artillery, but by good example and wise counsel.  It should see its highest glory, not in battles won, but in wars prevented.  It should be so invariably just and fair, so trustworthy, so good tempered, so conciliatory, that other nations would instinctively turn to it as their mutual friend and the natural adjuster of their differences, thus making it the greatest preserver of the world’s peace.
This is not a mere idealistic fancy.  It is the natural position of this great republic among the nations of the earth.  It is its noblest vocation, and it will be a glorious day for the United States when the good sense and the self-respect of the American people see in this their “manifest destiny.”  It all rests upon peace.  Is not this peace with honor?  There has, of late, been much loose speech about “Americanism.”  Is not this good Americanism?  It is surely today the Americanism of those who love their country most.  And I fervently hope that it will be and ever remain the Americanism of our children and our children’s children.
—     Carl Schurz
Speech at the Chamber of Commerce, New York City, New York (2 January 1896)
.
On This Day In:
2013	Dangerous Systems
2012	Useful Science
2011	Say It, But Please Don’t Make Me Listen

Read Full Post »

To Be Greatly Good

A man, to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively;  he must put himself in the place of another and of many others;  the pains and pleasures of his species must become his own.
—   Percy Bysshe Shelley
.
On This Day In:
2013	Limited Capacity
2012	Two Ear Ticklers
	Justification
2011	To Avail The Nation

Read Full Post »

At Least Smile

You can tell how smart people are by what they laugh at.
—    Tina Fey
From her book:  “Bossypants“
.
On This Day In:
2013	Comfortably Bound
2012	Certainty
	Thinking About Fathers
2011	And In Every Level Of Media

Read Full Post »

Pass The Soul

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.
—     Gilbert K. Chesterton
.
On This Day In:
2013	Zapping Music And Art
2012	Not Quite Fantastic
	That Kid Is Back
2011	Wolves At The Door
2010	I’m Feeling Patriotic… (Well, more than usual, anyway.)
	Beating the Heat…

Read Full Post »

The History Of Warriors

The history of war is the history of warriors;  few in number, mighty in influence.  Alexander, not Macedonia conquered the world.  Scipio, not Rome destroyed Carthage.  Marlborough, not the allies defeated France.  Cromwell, not the roundheads dethroned Charles …  Truly in war:  “Men are nothing, a man is everything” …  the leader must be an actor …  he is unconvincing unless he lives his part …  The fixed determination to acquire the warrior soul and having acquired it to conquer or perish with honor is the secret of victory.
—    General George S. Patton, Jr.
.
On This Day In:
2013	A Cult Of Ignorance
2012	Counting Valor
	Understanding Faith
2011	I Can Hear You Now
2010	Inception

Read Full Post »

Study The Means Of Expressing Yourself

If you already feel inside you the urge of self-expression, then the first thing that you have to do is to study the means of expressing yourself.  You will have to study very carefully the English language and especially its grammar.  Although most people do not understand the art of good writing, they unconsciously assimilate more easily ideas which are expressed in correct English.  It should be pointed out also that good English is not necessarily flowery English, and the simple phrase — which looks so easy to write — is often the most difficult to construct.  I can not stress too strongly the desirability of writing your sentences word by word and not phrase by phrase.  Many writers fail to get their ideas across to the public solely because they use expressions whose meaning has been killed by repetition.
[An excerpt from one of my high school English books; no author was provided    —    kmab]
.
On This Day In:
2013	That Stubborn Thing
2012	Like Mike
2011	Flawless Or Candid
2010	Browning…

Read Full Post »