When a country needs advice, turning to a hero is a good idea. When a Party faces tough times, then looking to a man who died in service to that party is a superb one. Listen to James Garfield. “Who?” I can hear people ask. Most people my age think of a cartoon cat when they hear “Garfield,” my college students often haven’t even heard of the cat. Nobody much pays attention to James Garfield, the hero. That’s too bad,... Read more
Professor Timothy Bartel has published the work of California poet and teacher Jonathan Diaz in Rumors of Rain. This work is luminous. If we live in difficult times, and we always live in difficult times, then the makers of beauty, the tellers of truth, and the poets are always needed. Diaz is such a poet and I found his work stimulating, challenging, and utterly counter-culture. He dares to stand athwart history and cry: “Think. Reflect. Consider.” When it comes to beauty... Read more
Never smile at a crocodile and never fight with a man experiencing the Day of Glory. In Iliad some heroes are better fighters than others: Paris should not fight even an average Greek hero. Achilles can kill anyone and will only be slain by the will of Zeus: bad fate. No hero who is not a Demi-god should take on a god, but there is one exception to these general rules: the Day of Glory. A solid hero like Diomedes will... Read more
Hector us, O Lord, we pray. And no, we do not wish God to bully us. He would not, even if we asked, because God is just and applies justice with mercy and love. Somehow the English word “hector” came to mean bully when it began as the proper name of a great Trojan hero. There are many theories but one is a street gang named after the Greek hero who spoilt the name for English speakers. Bullies are always... Read more
If God exists, then He has no beginning and no end by definition. God exists, but there is still a sensible way to speak of the “birth of God.” How? There are animals that exist and yet humans are unaware of them. We discover those animals and so our knowing relationship with them begins. We might have been filling their ocean with plastic and killing them for decades, but now we know and that makes a difference. God is there to... Read more
If you want hope, Georgia should be on your mind. I wanted currency to visit Georgia and asked a currency exchange office in Los Angeles to help. She looked at me with real sorrow: “Georgia is a state. They use dollars just like here.” Nevertheless I persisted. “Oh, yes. I mean the nation of Georgia, the one in the Causus region near Russia.” “I am sorry, sir. Georgia is a state and there is not Georgian currency.” Nevertheless Georgia persists. Despite... Read more
Don’t just talk, do things. Do not just do things, talk and then do things. I have worked at places that saw a problem and set up a committee. When they saw they had too many committees, they set up a Committee about committees. They are talking themselves to death. That tempts many of us just to act: just do it. This chokes off other voices, does not give time for data collection, and multiplies error. Here is a shock:... Read more
I just read of a leader who is tired of hearing about justice issues. “Didn’t we discuss them already? Shouldn’t we move on?” That’s impossible if we love justice. We need to pursue justice and act with mercy again and again. As a result, we must discuss justice and mercy again and again. Let’s be practical: How can we be just, with mercy, in this particular situation? To be just, we must learn how in the just now to apply Justice (the... Read more
“Mmm-mmm good.” That’s what Campbell’s Soups were: good. At least ads told kids this back when oldsters like I am were kids. If you could get the soup inside you, goodness followed. Soup was not just good, it was beyond words: mmm-mmm. In my grandmother’s generation, advertisements told her that Campell’s Soups ingested would give a person vigor and strength for no more than ten cents a can. I ate enough Bean with Bacon Soup to be given great vigor... Read more
Imagine a college administrator so obsessed with the “college experience” that he was willing to sacrifice college education for the sis-boom-ba of Tom Brown at Harvard. Tom Brown may not learn much about geography, history, or philosophy, but he plays football, meets a girl, and has the Collegiate Experience. The Collegiate Experience may not prepare you for paradise, or even a good job, but it is easier than studying. Education is hard, edutainment easy. That’s one reason we prefer the... Read more
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