Broaden The Circle

Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group.  Initially our loyalties were to ourselves and our immediate family, next, to bands of wandering hunter-gatherers, then to tribes, small settlements, city-states, nations.  We have broadened the circle of those we love.  We have now organized what are modestly described as super-powers, which include groups of people from divergent ethnic and cultural backgrounds working in some sense together — surely a humanizing and character building experience.  If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.  Many of those who run the nations will find this idea unpleasant.  They will fear the loss of power.  We will hear much about treason and disloyalty.  Rich nation-states will have to share their wealth with poor ones.  But the choice, as H. G. Wells once said in a different context, is clearly the universe or nothing.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2020	Stay Gentle
2019	Immoral #45
2018	From My Soapbox
2017	The Single Most Effective Thing For Health
2016	A Trumpet Solo
2015	Potential Is A Heavy Burden
2014	Fear Not, Weep Not
2013	Half Way There
2012	Sacrificed Any Lately?
2011	The Value Of One’s Character
2010	Intervals
	On Being Human
	Non-predictive Emergence
	Events
	Bodily Functions
	Standing Thoughts
	Sent Home Is Better Than Fixed

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We Like To Believe So, Anyway

Today knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.
—    Peter Drucker
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On This Day In:
2020	I’m Older Now
2019	Why #45 (#LazyDonald) Was Destined To Be A Failed Presidency
2018	Easter In Liverpool
	Star Guides To Destiny
	Growl
2017	Decisions
2016	Along The Path
2015	Make Mine Rare, Please
2014	Passion Flooding
2013	On Purpose
2012	Sans Gall Bladder, Day 4
	How Did You Spend Your Day?
2011	It’s Hammerin’ Time!!
	Convenient Auxiliaries

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The Imposition Of Position

Rank does not confer privilege or give power.  It imposes responsibility.
—    Peter Drucker
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On This Day In:
2020	Stand Up!
	Crowd Sourced Scouting Report
2019	Only One Direction
2018	Respect Is Long Gone
2017	Dream Of Dreamers
2016	Dear Automakers
2015	And Some Not So Brave Too
2014	In My Lifetime…
2013	Democracy
2012	Borrowed Expectations
2011	Not Necessarily True

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The Honor Is To Serve…

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, everyone!!
If you have a chance, please be of service to someone today.  It doesn’t matter how trivial the service may seem.  Even a smile can change someone’s day and alter their life.
Start a vibration in the universe!!
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On This Day In:
2020	Each Meaning
2019	The Deep End
	Is Anyone ELSE Out There Listening?
2018	Defining Characteristic
2017	Just Asking
2016	Still A Burden
	15 And Counting
2015	All A Game
2014	Two Thoughts
2013	RIP – Dear Abby
	Half-Life Problems
2012	To The Soul…
2011	Reverted!!

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Only So Long

You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them.  But when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again.
—    Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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On This Day In:
2020	Each Meaning
2019	The Deep End
	Is Anyone ELSE Out There Listening?
2018	Defining Characteristic
2017	Just Asking
2016	Still A Burden
	15 And Counting
2015	All A Game
2014	Two Thoughts
2013	RIP – Dear Abby
	Half-Life Problems
2012	To The Soul…
2011	Reverted!!

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People Will Come

Don’t talk about it.  The rose doesn’t have to propagate its perfume.  It just gives it forth, and people are drawn to it.  Live it, and people will come to see the source of your power.
—    Mahatma Gandhi
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On This Day In:
2018	Be My Hero – Vote Tomorrow!
	He Was All Of Us…
2017	Black And White
	Advice For #DumbDonald
2016	Mirror, Mirror
2015	Speaking With Forked Tongue
2014	The Code
2013	Eventually Formed
2012	Remember To Vote Tomorrow
2011	It Sounds Like Chaos Theory To Me

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It Keeps Happening Anyway

See, that’s the tragedy of the human condition.  No one WANTS to be corrupted by power when they set out to get it.  They have good, even noble reasons for doing whatever it is they do.  They don’t want to misuse it, they don’t want to abuse it, and they don’t want to become vicious monsters.  Good people, decent people, set out to take the high road, to pick up power without letting it change them or push them away from their ideals.
But it keeps happening anyway.
History is full of it.  As a rule, people aren’t good at handling power.  And the second you start to think you’re better at controlling your power than anyone else, you’ve already taken the first step.
—    Harry Dresden
The narrative character in the novel: “Cold Days“
Written by:  Jim Butcher
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On This Day In:
2012	Take Time
2011	A Mother’s Lesson
2010	3rd Pair – Shoe Review (DOA and Final)

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