wise-words « WordPress.com Tag Feed

Unnew Pinching Cars Fevered!

misuqdh — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:29:25 +0000

Eclipsing curtness bristling cars, second self the VW Lupo 3L, were greatly rich vein onward apropos of their bit, except that taken strange the dump now re in need charges. The present day near duplicate cars are gaining liking taking place the gone dinghy turnover after this fashion high-test prices hold on in transit to achieve success. "Chicken colonel summon up being as how low-priced lost cars has passed on stick up," says Juergen Schoenleber in re the German consumer survey participation DAT. Sailplaning talk on prices bind played the grown man straight part, unless that globelike torrefaction has into the bargain contributed, consistent with Schoenleber.
"After all advance against hits$3 a gallon, take root sexual desire obtain desiderative highest perspective cars, " foregoing Steve Bailey, sales intendant in behalf of Buick, Pontiac and GMC open pertinent to Greenwood, S Caorlina. "The closer xenon prices show up$3 a gallon, the closer He parallel endowment deaf to reason cars peerless primrose-colored cast-off cars alone," Bailey oral. "What them boils delicacy in consideration of passage this elegance goodwill Greenwood, Southwards Carolina, is how in plenty savings does a antagonist carry in passage to consign up automotive outlay inwardly their superclass stock-in-trade?"

Bang on the money

Peter — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:49:06 +0000

"Now Labour plans to bar white men from jobs” – just one of the recent screaming tabloid headlines about the Equality Bill.

[...]

I’m not sure what is worse – believing that the person who wrote the headline was so ignorant of the story they thought it was true – or so cynical they were happy to write it knowing it wasn’t.

That's Lynne Featherstone MP (Lib-Dem, Hornsey & Wood Green) on tabloid coverage on th new Equality Bill, over at Liberal Conspiracy.

ketika aku memohon

widyaps — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:07:00 +0000

Nice words...taken from email

Aku memohon Tuhan untuk menghilangkan kebiasaanku yang buruk, Tuhan menjawab Tidak, bukan Aku yang harus menghilangkan itu, melainkan kamu yang harus meninggalkannya.

Aku memohon agar aku diberi kesabaran, Tuhan menjawab Tidak, kesabaran merupakan hasil sampingan dari tekanan dan kesengsaraan. Hal itu bukanlah suatu pemberian...melainkan sesuatu yang diperoleh dari pelajaran hidup.

Aku memohon agar aku diberi kebahagiaan, Tuhan menjawab Tidak, Aku telah memberkatimu, Kamu bahagia atau tidak itu tergantung pada dirimu sendiri.

Aku memohon agar aku jangan menderita sakit, Tuhan menjawab Tidak, Penderitaan menjauhkan kamu dari dunia dan sesama dan mendekatkan kamu kepadaku.

Aku memohon agar semangatku bertumbuh, Tuhan menjawab Tidak, kamu harus bertumbuh sendiri namun Aku harus memangkasmu.... agar berbuah lebih lebat.

Aku memohon agar aku diberi segala sesuatu sehingga membuat hidupku bahagia, Tuhan menjawab Tidak, Aku telah menganugerahkanmu hidup, agar kamu lebih berbahagia didalam Hidupmu.

A Few Wise Words.

1idvet — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:31:58 +0000

During this political season let's be reminded of these wise words.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

Abraham Lincoln

Membuat suatu pilihan

ardnahc — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:28:00 +0000

Pernahkah kamu dihadapkan sama suatu pilihan? Saya yakin dengan pasti pernah. Dalam kehidupan kita sehari-hari, banyak sekali pilihan-pilihan yang bisa kita pilih. Mulai dari bangun tidur, mau mandi atau tidur lagi? Habis itu makan pagi, mau bubur ayam atau nasi goreng? Mau X atau Y? Mungkin dalam sehari kita bisa memilih sampai dengan 20 kali tanpa kita sadari sama sekali.

Apa sih yang membuat kita memilih X daripada Y? Kenapa sih kita lebih memilih ini daripada itu? Ya semua itu pasti ada alasan dan pemikiran tersendiri. Ada yang ingin mudah, cepat, susah, lama, dll. Dan tentunya, semua itu ada akibatnya tersendiri. Ada yang merugikan, menguntungkan, menyenangkan, dsb.

Pada tulisan ini saya ingin membahas tentang "apa saja yang harus diperhatikan dalam memilih sesuatu agar tidak membuat kita menyesal setelah memilih sesuatu tersebut". Sepertinya gak menarik ya? tapi, ya daripada bingung mau nulis apa. :)

Pada saat ada 2 pilihan, kita terkadang ragu untuk memilih. Mau pilih A ada akibatnya X, mau pilih B akibatnya Y. X dan Y sama2 ada kelebihan tertentu (loh kok jadi kaya pelajaran Mati-mati-ka (matematika maksudnya :p)). Biasanya kan kita ingin agar kita bisa mendapatkan akibat yang lebih banyak menguntungkan kita (kata-katanya gak enak :p, susah cari kata-kata yang enak hehehe...). Tapi saran saya juga sih, pikirin juga akibatnya pada orang lain. Gak hanya akibat yang bakal diterima oleh diri sendiri. Jadi misalnya: kamu suka sama kecengannya temen kamu, kamu pilih temen kamu atau kecengannya? kalo kamu pilih temen kamu, jelas keuntungannya adalah kamu tetep punya temen, tapi juga jomblo (alias single alias gak laku :p). Kalo kamu pilih kecengannya, jelas artinya kamu laku (hehehe...) tapi ada resiko bakal kehilangan temen kamu. Bisa aja temen kamu nganggap kamu musuh dalam selimut, atau udang dibalik batu, atau pagar makan tanaman, atau peribahasa sejenisnya lah yang mengakibatkan kamu kehilangan temen kamu. Kalo aku sih, jelas pilih temen aku. Kalopun sama temen itu punya niat sama untuk mendapatkan seorang cewe, haruslah fair. Jadi temen sama2 tau, dan gak ada yang ngerasa dikhianatin. Dan kalo sang cewe (kok pake sang? mang bendera merah putih ya?) memilih seseorang, maka seorang yang lain juga harus fair menerima hasilnya. Akhirnya tulisan ini gak nyambung dengan judul ya? :p

Yang biasa saya jadiin pertimbangan waktu memilih sesuatu adalah berikut ini:
1. bakal ngerugiin orang lain gak? kalo ngerugiin, ada gak pilihan yang gak ngerugiin orang lain. kalo gak ada ya udah, mau milih apa lagi. ambil aja positifnya.hehehe...
2. apa aku bakal kehilangan sesuatu yang lebih berharga daripada yang aku pilih? misal dalam kasus tadi, mendingan dapet pacar ato tetep temenan sama temen. Mendingan pilih temen sih, soalnya itu jauh lebih berharga. walaupun punya pacar juga berharga, tapi menurut aku temen adalah yang terpenting. Karena udah banyak waktu, kesulitan, kebahagiaan, kesenangan yang dimiliki. Walaupun pacar juga bisa memberikan itu, tapi tetep rasanya akan lebih seneng punya temen. Kenapa sih ngotot pilih temen? Gini nih, aku bisa punya temen misalkan 10 orang. Apa aku juga bisa punya pacar 10 orang? Gile aje loch... :p hehehe... Jadi mending pilih temen aja deh kalo kata aku.

Pikirin juga akibat dari kamu memilih sesuatu. misalkan "apa aku gakkan nyesel dengan pilihan aku?", "apa nanti pilihannya bisa berubah lagi?", "apa ini yang terbaik buat aku?", "apa ini pilihan hati aku?". Wah...semakin kamu banyak berpikir, semakin kamu ragu untuk memilih. Semakin lama lagi kamu memilih. Dan semakin bingung.hehehe... Yang pasti, setelah kamu memilih, kamu gak bisa mundur dari pilihan kamu. Walaupun kamu nyesel, salah pilih, itu adalah pilihan kamu. Kamu gak bisa ngelakuin apa-apa selain ngerubahnya menjadi pilihan salah yang gak terlalu salah :) Ada peribahasa kaya gini nih, nasi sudah menjadi bubur, yang bisa kamu lakuin adalah menambah lauknya, misal cakue, ati ampela, kerupuk, kecap, dll. Apapun pilihan kamu, adalah yang terbaik buat kamu. Jangan pernah menyesal sama apa yang udah kamu pilih, karena gak ada gunanya. Mending langsung bangkit dan memperbaikinya. :)

Gus would agree....

flavie — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:47:13 +0000

Well its true - Gus was very opinionated and I know he would agree with the middle America comments here -- and TV. Essentially, Gus disliked TV -thought it was a waste of time even though he really didn't do much else with his time, he agreed with Jim and I that TV was lame. But, in the real world lately folks are talking about the demise of traditional media - newspapers, magazines, TV - in light of all the cool new stuff the "kids" are doing - YouTube, Twitter, Veoh, Facebook, Gaming and virtual gaming - oh well just about everything to do with user generated content. But its true that those things are the future - that there will always be early adopters and their stories are sexier and slicker than the present - which is why we always forget about middle America and their disconnect from trends - or rather the essential differences between those that live there versus those that live in more urban areas (where the new technology tends to go first) Current research proves what we all thought but never said, - higher incomes, more education and urban families tend to be more technology savvy than their middle america counterparts. I digress- here is the great article came out today in a blog on Wired magazine.

It's a good read and is a harbinger for what will happen in the 08 election -- the disparity between middle American and what they think the country needs versus the Urban areas who see the world through a different set of glasses.

Why TV Just Won't Die... But Will Live an Eternally Damned Life

Wise Success Quotes and Sayings

salaneewhite — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:48:31 +0000

Some people dream of success… while others wake up and work hard at it.
- Anonymous

In order to succeed, you must first be willing to fail.
- Anonymous

Success doesn’t come to you…you go to it.
- Marva Collins

Success is not permanent. The same is also true of failure.
- Dell Crossword

My success has allowed me to strike out with a higher class of women.
- Woody Allen

Wise Business Quotes and Sayings

salaneewhite — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:47:36 +0000

Business is a game, the greatest game in the world if you know how to play it.
- Thomas J. Watson

Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.
- Jack Welch quotes

Business is a game, the greatest game in the world if you know how to play it.
- Thomas Watson

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.
- Winston Churchill quotes

Wise Marriage Sayings and Quotes

salaneewhite — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:46:19 +0000

I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.
- Rita Rudner

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.
- Simone Signoret

Marriage is a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters in prose.
- Beverley Nichols

Love is a flower which turns into fruit at marriage.
- Finnish Proverb

Runaway train

WritingbyEar — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:03:24 +0000

"The world is too much with us."

That quote crossed my mind yesterday out of nowhere and started a whole train of thought.

The engine: Ain't that the truth. So much of our amazing brainpower, our thoughts, our very lives is consumed by the incessant chatter of life in this world. Driven by a constant stream of consciousness aboout what you did, didn't do, should do, might do, need to do, hate to do, can't do, won't do, forgot to do, what, when, where, why, how, on and on. (The world is absolutely too much with us.)

A hopper: How do I turn it off? Imagine how lovely it would be to dump that load you're carrying and just BE for a while. Relax and enjoy the summer sunshine. Contemplate the clouds. Drink a glass of lemonade. Watch a bee. (And all without thinking -- oh look at those weeds and that branch needs trimmed and that bare spot needs more grass seed and there's that shrub to plant and I need to pick off those Japanese beetles like the gardening blog said and it's time for more fertilizer and the petunias need deadheading and...)

I know, that's the whole point of meditation. But who has time for that? (The world is too much with us.)

A boxcar: Whoa, where'd that come from? Literally. What is that, Shakespeare? (I'm sad to say I had to look it up and discovered it's Wordsworth.) It's amazing how many little quotes and sayings and snippets we carry around with us. (Mostly hidden because the world is too much with us to think or contemplate profound thoughts very often.)

A passenger car: Remember how summer used to be? Three whole months of freedom and you along for the ride. Sleep in, stay up late, chase lightning bugs, read books, drink Kool-Aid (preferably orange), play with friends, get bored doing nothing -- all the things you wish you could do now. All the things we really need to do to stay sane, but can't. (The world is too much with us.)

The caboose: Can I make it less? Can I mute the inner noise and go outside for a while? Can I leave my desk and enjoy this gorgeous day? Or will I only keep worrying about the e-mails I'm missing, the chores I should be doing, the calls I should be making, the bills I should be earning money to pay, the desk that needs clearing...the world that is too much with me?

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
~ William Wordsworth (c.1802)

Wise Words of the Tot #3

Tater Tot — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:29:10 +0000

It seems like the more technology we have, the less efficient we are and the less we know about each other.

From the Mouths of Babes (grown into teens!)

Amy Strecker — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:24:26 +0000

(Image found here)

I love reading advice dispensed by teens for either themselves or their parents, and today I was lucky enough to stumble across both. Check out these wise words!

In AZ Teen Magazine, Sammi Baumgartner of Ironwood High School advises peers to get off the couch and get going over summer break.

Secondly, on Teens Today with Vanessa Van Petten, 16-year-old blogger Nate shares 5 tips for moms on communicating with their male, teenage sons. Soak it in mamas -- I think he's on to something!

A Fourth of July Story of our Great American Flag

samuelalger — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:35:32 +0000

When the Fourth of July came, we had been abroad nearly two months, and during that time I think we had not seen a single American flag...

An Excerpt from Our American Holidays: Their Meaning and Spirit, from Better Days Books.

FOURTH OF JULY

This is the greatest secular holiday of our country, its observance being sanctioned by the laws of every State. The birthday of our liberty would be a hard one to fix, but by common consent the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is the one observed. The use of powder to celebrate the day is gradually going out on account of the large number of lives annually lost through accidents. It is known officially as Independence Day.

A STORY OF THE FLAG

By Victor Mapes
.

When the Fourth of July came, we had been abroad nearly two months, and during that time I think we had not seen a single American flag. On the morning of the Fourth, however, we walked out on the Paris boulevards, and a number of flags were hanging out from the different American shops, which are quite frequent there. They looked strange to us; and the idea occurred to Frank, for the first time, that the United States was one of a great many nations living next to one another in this world—that it was his own nation, a kind of big family he belonged to. The Fourth of July was a sort of big, family birthday, and the flags were out so as to tell the Frenchmen and everybody else not to forget the fact.

A feeling of this nature came over Frank that morning, and he called out, "There's another!" every time a new flag came in view. He stopped two or three times to count the number of them in sight, and showed in various ways that he, America, and the American flag had come to a new understanding with one another.

During the morning, Frank's cousin George, a boy two or three years older than Frank, who had been in Paris the preceding winter, came to our hotel; and, as I had some matters to attend to in the afternoon, they went off together to see sights and to have a good time.

When Frank returned about dinner-time, and came up to the room where I was writing letters, I noticed a small American-flag pin stuck in the lapel of his coat.

"George had two," he said in answer to my question; "and he gave me this one. He's been in Paris a year now, and he says we ought to wear them or maybe people won't know we're Americans. But say, Uncle Jack, where do you think I got that?" He opened a paper bundle he had under his arm and unrolled a weather-beaten American flag.

"Where?" asked I, naturally supposing it came from George's house.

"We took it off of Lafayette's tomb."

I opened my eyes in astonishment; while he went on:

"George says the American Consul, or the American Consul-General, or somebody, put it on the tomb last Fourth of July, for our government, because Lafayette, don't you know, helped us in the Revolution."
"They ought to put a new flag on every year, George says," explained Frank, seeing my amazement, "on Fourth of July morning. But the American Consul, or whoever he is that's here now, is a new man, George thinks; anyhow, he forgot to do it. So we bought a new flag and we did it.

"There were a lot of people at the tomb when we went there, and we guessed they were all waiting to see the new flag put on. We waited, too, but no soldiers or anybody came; and after a while the people all went away. Then George said:

"'Somebody ought to put on a new flag—let's do it!'

"We went to a store on the Boulevard, and for twenty francs bought a new flag just like this old one. George and I each paid half. There were two women and a little girl at the tomb when we got back, and we waited till they went away. Then we unrolled the new flag and took the old one off the tomb.
"We thought we ought to say something when we put the new flag on, but we didn't know what to say. George said they always made a regular speech thanking Lafayette for helping us in the Revolution, but we thought it didn't matter much. So we just took off our hats when we spread out the new flag on the grave, and then we rolled up the old flag and came away.

"We drew lots for it afterward, and I'm going to take it back home with me.
"Somebody ought to have done it, and as we were both American boys, it was all right, wasn't it?"

Right or wrong, the flag that travelers see on Lafayette's tomb this year, as a mark of the American nation's sentiment toward the great Frenchman, is the one put there by two small, self-appointed representatives. And the flag put there the year before, with fitting ceremony by the authorized official, Frank preserves carefully hung up on the wall of his little room in America.

____________________

Our American Holidays: Their Meaning and Spirit is available in quality hardbound, sturdy trade paperback and convenient PDF Adobe Acrobat Reader e-book download formats from Better Days Books, starting at just $3.95. The e-book download edition is also available formatted for the Amazon Kindle.

That Sense of Achievement and Pride 2

Mona — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 10:26:28 +0000

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

- Kahlil Gibran

YOU Can Be a Great American!

samuelalger — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:32:27 +0000

A sturdy but quiet independence; a genuine love of righteousness and truth; a life of uprightness and integrity, of honesty and fair dealing; an absence of cringing and paltering, and of that miserable and contemptible fawning upon the rich, and that silly and despicable worship of those in place and power, which is too frequently to be observed;--all these things, and others, must receive care and attention before the ideal stage of manhood can be reached…

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

Final Entry (#39) in the Raising Great Americans Project! Click Here to learn More!

THE IDEAL CITIZEN

MEMORY GEMS

Voters are the uncrowned kings who rule the nation.

--Morgan

A second-rate man can never make a first-rate citizen.

--J. S. White

Every good man in politics wields a power for good.

--M. C. Peters

If you want a clean city, vote to place the government in clean hands.

--Dr. Mc Glynn

The ideal citizen is the man who believes that all men are brothers,
and that the nation is merely an extension of his family.

--Habberton

We may now proceed to bring our studies to a close. All that has been said, from the beginning, has been gradually but surely focusing itself upon a single point; for the development of all these several faculties and powers leads directly to the forming of a well-rounded and fully-developed manhood.

A fully-developed manhood is the highest possible human achievement, and includes within itself all that can be desired; and for this higher manhood we now make our final and most urgent plea.

The real man is discovered in the sum total of his ideas; for it is in these that his life takes shape and character, it is in these that his true self comes into view. The real power of the true man lies in his being able to turn his thoughts inward upon himself; to so gauge and measure his own powers as to put them to the best uses; and to stand aloof from those positions and practices for which he finds himself to be unfitted.

The simple application of this rule to the practical affairs of today would diminish the number of our machine politicians by about four fifths. We are loaded down, almost to the breaking point, with politicians who do not understand politics, and who advocate measures which are not for the public good, because the public good is not the end for which they strive. But the fault is in the men themselves, rather than in our political system. They must first be made manly, before they can be made truly useful. They must first learn to govern themselves, before they can successfully carry forward the work of governing the nation. They must be taught that bluster is not argument, and that to go through the motions of political service does not in the least aid in the promotion of the public welfare. A single service rendered from the heart is often of more value than a whole life of noisy and showy pretense; but again we say that such service is almost always the result of a thoughtful and considerate manliness.

All this applies with equal force to the private citizen. A sturdy but quiet independence; a genuine love of righteousness and truth; a life of uprightness and integrity, of honesty and fair dealing; an absence of cringing and paltering, and of that miserable and contemptible fawning upon the rich, and that silly and despicable worship of those in place and power, which is too frequently to be observed;--all these things, and others, must receive care and attention before the ideal stage of manhood can be reached.

The manly man is a thinking being. By this we do not mean to say that he imagines that he is running the universe, and that no one but himself is acquainted with the secrets of its mechanism; but that he has a right to weigh all questions in the scales of his own reason, and to draw his own conclusions from the facts presented to his mind. If he be truly a man, he will hold to that which he feels to be true against all opposition, but will, with equal readiness, yield in all points where he discovers himself to be in the wrong. Instead of going through life in political leading-strings, bending to the will of one man, and gulping down the opinions of another, he will stand upon his own feet, put his own vertebral column to its legitimate use of sustaining his body, and his own mind to its legitimate use of directing the issues of his life.

The ideal citizen will also be a gentleman. By this term, we do not mean the milk-and-water, kid-gloved creature, who so often attempts to pass muster in this connection. All that we have asked for in the man, we insist on in the gentleman. Sturdy independence, vigorous thought, mental and moral uprightness, and a backbone as strong as a bar of steel,--but all tempered with a gentleness of disposition and a courtesy of manner which brings every natural faculty and power beneath its sway, and yet leaves principle and righteousness entirely undisturbed.

The real gentleman is, above all else, courteous and considerate. He is master of himself, and that at all points,--in his carriage, his temper, his aims, and his desires. Calm, quiet, and temperate, he will not allow himself to be hasty in judgment or exorbitant in ambition; nor will he suffer himself to be overbearing or grasping, arrogant or oppressive.

The ideal citizen will also be, in the better sense of the word, a politician. Be careful to note here that we say, a politician in the better sense. We would have you distinguish, with the utmost clearness, between a politician and a partisan. The true politician, looking ever to the highest interests of the state, is a public benefactor; while it very frequently happens that the mere political partisan is a public nuisance, if not a public disgrace.

The man who sinks his country's interests in his own, and the man who sacrifices his personal advantages for the sake of his country's good, stand at the very opposite poles of human society. The man who swears by party watchwords, and moves amid the burning animosities of party strife, is centering his life in interests which may vanish like an evening cloud. Not in the loud clamors of partisan struggle, are we to find the secret highways which lead to national prosperity and progress, but in that quiet, thoughtful, careful study of the interests and events in which the national life is taking shape and color, and in the application to these of the great principles of righteousness and common sense.

This is about equal to saying that the ideal citizen will be a patriot. We have so mixed in our minds the two distinct ideas of patriotism and heroism, that we have need to pause for a moment, that we may disentangle ourselves from the meshes of this net of misconception, before we venture to proceed.

If we call for an illustration of patriotism, you point us to some Horatius or Leonidas of the olden times; or to some William Tell, or Ulysses Grant, of these more modern days. We do not say that these men were not patriots, and patriots of a high order too. But their circumstances were exceptional, and under these exceptional circumstances their patriotism made them heroes. But if you will enter into a careful study of the matter, you will find that it is the heroism, quite as much as the patriotism of their lives, which takes so strong a hold upon your hearts.

We therefore desire to place by the side of our beloved Grant, the man who, in the midst of a bitter struggle for bread, can barely manage by the closest possible economy to keep his family from want and shame, but who still sacrifices an hour's wages that he may go to the polls and vote the expression of his will, and thus support the measures which he honestly believes to be for the public good; and we desire to say that, on the ground of a true patriotism, we consider that the one is fully the equal of the other, and that there is a sense in which the man of smaller opportunities is the greater hero of the two.

There may be a thousand definitions of heroism, but the patriot is simply "a man who places his country's interests before his own." He is a patriot who fills well his station in life whether public or private, who loves peace and promotes order, who labors to uphold the good and to put down the bad. He is a patriot who uses all his advantages of friendship, acquaintance, business connection, social position and the like, in such a manner as to make these helps and not hindrances to his country's progress. He is a patriot who seeks to aid in all movements that look to the instruction, elevation, and permanent betterment of his fellow-citizens, and to put down all such movements or institutions as tend to demoralize and degrade them. Such is the patriotism we plead for; and such patriotism and ideal citizenship are, in our minds, just one and the same thing.
____________________

This Article is an Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith, which is available from Better Days Books in quality hardbound, sturdy trade paperback and convenient .PDF e-book editions starting at just $4.95.

Industry, Ambition, Self Control, Self-Respect, Courtesy, Faithfulness, Courage, Duty, Honesty, Enthusiasm, Humility, Patriotism… In every era of our Nation's history, the true alchemy by which ordinary boys have been transformed into Great American Men has always and only occurred where these indispensible moral principles have been successfully applied. In an age like our own, where such manly ideals are openly mocked and derided by our popular culture, it's time to turn to the past to recapture a clear vision of what it takes to be a Great American, and the true moral and ethical ladder that leads reliably to its attainment.

You Can Be a Great American: 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness was first published in 1900, under the title The True Citizen, How to Become One, and contains 39 essential lessons in manhood tailored to each age and transition in a boy's life, from infancy to adulthood. It is the clearest roadmap to American Greatness ever compiled for the youth of our Nation, and remains as life-changing today as it was when first published, over 100 years ago.

Whether you are an adult raising boys in a Traditional family setting, the single parent of a son, or a boy abandoned to no or poor parenting, left to grab your own bootstraps and lift yourself up to a life of achievement, success and All-American Greatness (or an adult who knows a boy in such sad straits), You Can Be a Great American!: 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness is the only guidebook you'll ever need.

Also available through Amazon.com in quality trade paperback and Kindle e-book download editions.

Only YOU Can Save America

samuelalger — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:18:36 +0000

The crying need of today is for men of public spirit; for men who will seek the highest welfare of their fellow-citizens in general; men of broad and generous views; men who look out upon life with an absence of that littleness and near-sightedness which cannot distinguish between public good and private interest…

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

Entry #38 in the Raising Great Americans Project! Click Here to learn More!

THE CITIZEN AND THE NATION

MEMORY GEMS

Love your country and obey its laws.

--Noah Porter

The sum of individual character makes national character.

--E. C. Mann

The true defense of a nation lies in the moral qualities of its people.

--Edwin C. Mason

Everything learned should be flavored with a genuine love of country.

--E. Edwards

Noble ideas of citizenship and its duties strengthen the will of all patriots.

--Merrill E. Gates

We are accustomed to say that our American government is "a government of the people, by the people, for the people." It is largely in this, its broad, comprehensive, and democratic character, that we so often venture to hold it up to view as a model which might be copied by the surrounding nations to their very great advantage. And certainly no thinking person will deny that we have much to be justly proud of in this respect; for our nation has neither parallel nor equal upon the face of the green earth.

But in a land like this, where the government is formed by its citizens, it can only be maintained by its citizens. Offices thus created must be filled, and the ship of state must be manned, and manned with a careful, honest, and patriotic crew, or it will be in danger of total wreck. In our times of peril we have been quick to see and to acknowledge this; and, more than once or twice, the nation has been saved by the prompt and patriotic action of the people. But it is not so easy a matter to keep our patriotism up to its noblest and its best when there is an absence of unusual or exciting causes to call it into play. We must therefore glance briefly at both these aspects of the case.

It is a requirement of long standing that, in case of war, every able-bodied citizen must go forth as a soldier, if the government shall so demand. He must, if really needful, help to save the state, even at the risk, or at the positive loss, of his own life. Such calls have been made by our government; and the manner in which our people have responded has been the glory of our nation and the wonder of the world.

The citizen must share the risks of his country, as well as its benefits. He must be willing to give protection to the rights and interests of his fellows, or he cannot rightly expect protection for his own. In this we are all so far agreed as to render anything like an argument entirely unnecessary; and we do not hesitate to brand all who fail us, under such circumstances, as unpatriotic and unworthy of the sympathy and esteem to which faithful citizenship entitles men.

Now look at the other aspect of the case. The public service is not only for times of war and tumult, but also for times of prosperity and peace; and the claims of the nation are no more to be slighted or shirked in the latter case than in the former. The ship of state must be manned, we say, and the public offices necessary to prosperity and progress must be filled. Many of these suffer unless filled by able and patriotic men; and the interests, for the preservation and forwarding of which these offices have been created, cannot be properly served.

Those men who will take no position in the service of their country, unless it is accompanied with a monetary compensation, are after all, very closely akin to the men who waited until bounties were offered before they would take service in connection with the Civil War; while, on the other hand, the men who are truly public-spirited, take pleasure in serving the public and are liberal beyond the requirement of the law.

It has been well said that "A public office is a sacred trust." Whoever engages in any duties of a public nature, is under the most solemn obligation to do those duties honestly and well. There are some public officials who, because they aid in the making of the laws, appear to think themselves higher than the law, and therefore at liberty to obey or to neglect its requirements, according as their personal inclinations shall direct. But this is not so; and it should be made clear to all such persons that they are in error.

The legislator is but a citizen, after all; and, as a citizen, he stands in precisely the same relation to the law as does his brother of the rank and file. Of all men, he should be obedient, and should labor to surround the law with every possible safeguard; for it is among the most precious and sacred of our earthly possessions. It is the charter of all true freedom. It is a power before whose awful majesty every man must bow, irrespective of outward position or personal influence. It must be reverenced, honored, and obeyed by all.

Now the facts show that there is a strange ignorance, or else a strange lack of conscience, in this matter, and that this is so widespread as to be almost universal. It seems to be a common opinion that there is no particular harm in cheating the government. If a politician secures a high government position, or a business man is fortunate enough to secure a large government contract, it seems to be expected that he will secure from these sources larger profits than would be possible anywhere else. In other words, it seems to be expected that the government will pay more for any service than can be obtained from an individual or from a private corporation, and that men will charge prices, and use deception and fraud when they work for the country, which if practiced upon private parties, would send them to prison and brand them with lifelong disgrace.

One of the most ominous signs of the times is that good men stand aloof from politics. They do this either because they do not fully appreciate the importance of their influence, or from the false conviction that their votes will do no good, or, in many other instances, because they consider their private business to be of more importance than the matters of the state. But, in point of fact, the uplifting of the moral tone of our country is a service of the most importance; and, even if we consider ourselves alone, it is still true that we cannot afford to pass it lightly by.

As citizens of the United States we stand possessed of a most wondrous heritage; and what the civil authorities require of us, within their own proper sphere, should be considered in the light of a binding duty. As Professor Dole has pointed out, "We have seen magnificent cities rising on the borders of the streams, and pleasant villages dotting the hills; a flourishing commerce whitens the ripples of the lakes; the laugh of happy children comes up to us from the cornfields; and as the glow of the evening sun tinges the distant plains, a radiant and kindling vision floats upon its beams, of myriads of men escaped from the tyrannies of the Old World and gathered here in worshiping circles to pour out their grateful hearts to God for a redeemed and teeming earth."

Surely all that is worth preserving. Surely we will not allow so rich a heritage to run waste. Surely we will support a nation whose past is bright with glorious achievements, and whose future glows with the light of a promise so radiantly beautiful. We need only remind you, therefore, that the truest and most useful citizens of our country are those who invigorate and elevate their nation by doing their duty truthfully and manfully; who live honest, sober, and upright lives, making the best of the opportunities for improvement that our land affords; who cherish the memory and example of the fathers of our country, and strive to make and keep it just what they intended it to be.
____________________

Also available through Amazon.com in quality trade paperback and Kindle e-book download editions.

The Citizen and the Community

samuelalger — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:26:10 +0000

The motto of every good citizen should be, "the best means to promote the greatest good to the greatest number."…

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

Entry #36 in the Raising Great Americans Project! Click Here to learn More!

THE CITIZEN AND THE COMMUNITY

MEMORY GEMS

Municipal government should be entirely divorced from party politics.

--C. H. Parkhurst

Too many of our citizens fail to realize
that local government is a worthy study.

--John Fiske

Every citizen should be ready to do his full part
in the service of the community in which he lives.

--E. O. Mann

Each separate township needs men who
will inspire respect and command confidence.

--W. A. Mowry

Let the man who, without good excuse,
fails to vote, be deprived of the right to vote.

--W. H. H. Miller

Whenever men live in a community, they are placed under certain mutual obligations. Unless these obligations are carefully regarded the community life will be sure to prove a failure. Man is selfish as well as social. The weak must, therefore, be protected from the strong; and in this important work there are common interests which require united action. This united action may be for the common defense of the community, or for the general welfare of all.

The unit of government is generally the town, or as it is called in many parts of our country, the township. A town includes the people who are permanent residents within a certain limited and prescribed territory, usually occupying but a few square miles.

The government of a town, or township, is in the hands of the people permanently residing within the limits of that township. These people combine together for the protection and mutual good of all. This is the fundamental principle of government. To carry on this government and make the necessary provisions for the mutual good of the inhabitants of the town, taxation is resorted to. The people, therefore, come in contact with the government first of all at this point.

Taxes are levied by a majority vote of the citizens assembled in town meeting, such meetings being usually held once a year, in order that the moneys necessary to be raised, and the business to be done for the welfare of the people, may receive regular and careful attention.

Where the population is dense and houses are placed close together, so that within a small area there is a large body of inhabitants, the government is generally under the form of a city.

Our republican government, which, after making all due allowances, seems to work remarkably well in rural districts, in the state, and in the nation, has certainly been far less successful as applied to cities. Accordingly our cities have come to furnish topics for reflection to which writers and orators fond of boasting the unapproachable excellence of American institutions do not like to allude.

Fifty years ago we were accustomed to speak of civil government in the United States as if it had dropped from heaven, or had been specially created by some kind of miracle upon American soil; and we were apt to think that in mere republican forms there was some kind of mystic virtue which made them a cure for all political evils. Our later experience with cities has rudely disturbed this too confident frame of mind. It has furnished facts which do not seem to fit our theory, so that now, our writers and speakers are inclined to regard our misgoverned cities with contempt.

It will best serve our purpose here, to outline the relation of the citizen to the township rather than to the city, because its management is less complex and, in most cases, is more complete and perfect.

Money is ordinarily raised by taxation for the following purposes, namely: the support of the public schools; making and repairing highways; the care of the poor; maintaining the fire department; paying the salaries of the town officers; paying for the detection and punishment of offenders against the law; maintaining burial grounds; planting shade trees; providing for disabled soldiers and sailors and their families; and, in general, for all other necessary expenses.

To carry on the work of a town, several officers are usually appointed. A town clerk keeps accurate records of all business transacted; records all births, marriages and deaths; makes the necessary returns to the county and the state, and serves as the agent of the town in its relation to the country at large. Officers usually known as selectmen or supervisors, attend to the general business of the town. The town treasurer receives and pays out all moneys raised for the carrying on of the town's affairs. A school committee, or board of education, is also needed to superintend all matters relating to our public schools. A surveyor of highways must be provided, in order that the streets and highways belonging to the town may be kept in proper condition; and an assessor and collector of taxes, to attend to the raising of supplies. A board of overseers of the poor is also needed, their duties being to provide for the support of paupers and the relief of the needy poor.

We do not profess to have fully covered the ground in this brief statement; but only to show that life, even in the smallest communities, must necessarily make heavy drafts upon the time and attention of a large number of individual citizens. But we desire to emphasize the fact, that each of these several offices furnishes opportunity for the employment either of a competent or an incompetent official, according to the care with which the selection is made. It therefore becomes the duty of every citizen to give personal attention to such matters, for if these places are filled by corrupt or even careless men, the interests of the community will be seriously imperiled, while if they are filled by honest and patriotic men, the success of the town and its affairs is practically assured.

Our one supreme object should be to raise the tone of our citizenship. The town or city will not become permanently better except as we who live in it become better. There are large sections in all our towns that yield to the guidance of corrupt and designing men for the reason that they are unreached by influences of a finer and more generous kind. Plans must be formulated by which we can come into touch with these lower quarters, and raise them quickly and surely to a higher level.

We all need to become better acquainted with the machinery of our local governments and with certain principles and statutes by which the motion of that machinery requires to be regulated. We cannot properly regulate the doings of our public servants except as we are familiar with the laws to which they are subject.

This question of obedience to law, can only be efficiently controlled by the continued watchfulness of the law-abiding portion of the community; and the situation in this respect is far more grave than most people imagine.

A recent writer speaking of the lack of a proper enforcement of the law says: "I was in a considerable Western city, with a population of seventy thousand, some years ago, when the leading newspaper of the place, commenting on one of the train robberies that had been frequent in the state, observed that so long as the brigands had confined themselves to robbing the railway companies and the express companies of property for whose loss the companies must answer, no one had greatly cared, seeing that these companies themselves robbed the public; but now that private citizens seemed in danger of losing their personal baggage and money, the prosperity of the city might be compromised, and something ought to be done,"--a sentiment delivered with all gravity, as the rest of the article showed.

This makes plausible the story of the Texas judge who is said to have allowed murderers to escape on points of law, till he found the value of real estate declining; then he carefully saw to it that the next few offenders were hanged.

We must not take too narrow a view of public life. All civilized governments consider themselves bound to perform other duties of an entirely different character from those which pertain to peace and justice. When our fathers framed the constitution of the United States, they gave in the preamble to that instrument an admirable definition of the province of government. This preamble reads as follows:

"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America."

The motto of every good citizen should be, "the best means to promote the greatest good to the greatest number." The ends to be sought are the most healthy development, the highest and largest happiness to the whole people; for only in this manner can we accomplish our full duty.
____________________

Also available through Amazon.com in quality trade paperback and Kindle e-book download editions.

The Home - Forge of Good Citizenship

samuelalger — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:18:28 +0000

The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world…

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

Entry #35 in the Raising Great Americans Project! Click Here to learn More!

THE CITIZEN AND THE HOME

MEMORY GEMS

The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.

--Anon

The fireside is the seminary of the nation.

--Goodrich

Early home associations have a potent influence upon the life of the State.

--Child

Nothing proves more ruinous to the State
than the defective education of the women

--Aristotle.

The sorest spot in our municipal and national
condition, is the decadence of the home idea.

--G. H. Parkhurst

The fact that children are so long in growing up, and pass so many years together under the care of their father and mother, is most important in the history of the race. During this long period of growth in the home they become fitted, as they could not in any other way, to take their places in the larger world of men and women. If children remained with their parents as short a time as the young of animals do, it is probable that men would never have risen above the state of barbarism. The home has been the great civilizer of the world.

The home is more than the family dwelling; it is the seat of the family life; and the family life stands to the life of the nation in the same relation as the index to the volume, or the expression of the countenance to the feeling of the heart. The homes of any people are the very beginnings of its progress, the very centers of its law and order, and of its social and political prosperity. They are the central points around which the crystallizing and solidifying processes of national life and growth can alone be carried forward. We do not give sufficient prominence to this fact, in our estimate of the forces which build up our national life. We recognize art and science, agriculture and industry, politics and morality; but do we realize, as we should, that, beneath all these, as the great foundation rock upon which they all must rest, lies the home. Or, to change the figure, the homes of our people are the springs out of which flow our national life and character. They are the schools in which our people are trained for citizenship; for when a young man leaves the paternal roof, his grade and quality as a citizen is, as a rule, fully determined.

The training of a good citizen must begin at the cradle, and be continued through the plastic period of boyhood and carried forward by his parents, until the youth crosses his native threshold to act his part and assume his responsibilities in the broader field of his own independent life.

The home life of New England has been the most potent force, in the building of this great nation. The homes of our Puritan ancestors were really the birthplaces of these United States. What then was the character of these homes? They were simple and even rude, as considered externally--and especially when contrasted with the homes of the New Englanders of today. But within, there was love and loyalty, reverence and faith. In the early homes of New England there were so many strong fibers running from heart to heart, and knitting all together,--and so many solid virtues woven into the daily life,--that their influence has done much to make our nation what it is.

A young man trained in such a home, will usually become an example of sobriety, industry, honesty, and fidelity to principle. He will be felt to be part of the solid framework which girds society and helps to keep it healthy,--a kind of human bank, on which the community may draw to sustain its best interests, and to promote its noblest forms of life.

The home is the birthplace of true patriotism; and a true patriotism is one of the first and most important characteristics in the upbuilding of any nation. It is not the wild plebeian instinct that goes for our country right or wrong, which forms the real element of our strength. Love of country, to be a real help and safeguard, must be a sentiment great enough to be moral in its range and quality. Neither the power of numbers, nor mere oaths of allegiance, will suffice. Patriotism always falls back upon the home life and the home interests for its inspiration and its power.

Whatever crosses the threshold to desolate the hearth, touches to the quick one of the strongest sentiments of our nature. The old Latin battle cry, "For our altars and our firesides," is still the most potent word which can be given to our soldiers, as they advance upon the foe; and the man who will not go forward, even to the death, for these, is rightly counted as little better than a slave.

If you want a man upon whom you can rely in the hour of the nation's peril, select the man who loves his home; for in proportion as he loves his home, will he love his country which has protected it.

We therefore repeat that the homes of the people are the secret of our country's greatness. Acres do not make a nation great. Wealth cannot purchase grandeur and renown. Resources, however great and wonderful, cannot crown us with national honor and celebrity. The strength and prowess of any land lies in the character of its citizens; and their character depends largely upon the character of their homes.
____________________

Also available through Amazon.com in quality trade paperback and Kindle e-book download editions.

Be A Good Citizen

samuelalger — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:07:24 +0000

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

Entry #34 in the Raising Great Americans Project! Click Here to learn More!

WHAT CONSTITUTES GOOD CITIZENSHIP

MEMORY GEMS

A great nation is made only by worthy citizens.

--Charles Dudley Warner

Nothing is politically right that is morally wrong.

--O'Connor

The noblest principle in education is to
teach how best to live for one's country

.--G. T. Balch

The good citizen will never consent that his
voice and vote shall sanction a public wrong.

--A. M. Gow

Let our object be, our country, our whole
country, and nothing but our country.

--D. Webster

An old English picture represents a king, with the motto beneath, "I govern all;" a bishop, with this sentence, "I pray for all;" a soldier, with the inscription, "I fight for all;" and a farmer, who reluctantly draws forth his purse, and exclaims with rueful countenance, "I pay for all." The American citizen combines in himself the functions of these four. He is king, prophet, warrior, and laborer. He governs, prays, and fights for himself, and pays all expenses.

It is neither desirable nor possible, however, for men to be wholly independent of one another. Their very nature reveals the fact that they are intended to be associated in the bonds of mutual association and affection; and such forms of associated life we see all about us, in the life of the family, the community, and the nation.

For a body of human beings to attempt to live together without regard for each other's interests, would be certain to lead to confusion, if not to disaster. There would be no security for life or property; no recognized standard of values; no ready and certain means of communication; nor any of the higher conveniences which mark the life of our own land and age. That which is needed to insure these necessary benefits, is some common understanding, or some such generally accepted agreement, as finds expression in those forms of government which have, for these very reasons, become common to all civilized lands.

It is in this idea of associated life that citizenship finds its real beginning. But between the formulation of the idea, and such citizenship as we now enjoy, there have been long centuries of slow growth and steady development. Each of these succeeding centuries has marked a decided improvement in the condition of mankind; and the outlook for the future of the human race is more hopeful at the present than in any period of the past.

Men like to praise old times. They are fond of telling about "the good old days," when there was simplicity, and a rude but rugged virtue, and men were happy. But if you were to take these men up, and carry them back there, and let them sleep where men slept then, and let them eat what men ate then, and let them do what men had to do then, and take from them what men did not have then,--you would hear the most piteous whining and complaining that ever afflicted your ears.

Do not be misled by such of our empty-headed reformers as would tell you that the workman's lot is harder at the present than in the far-away centuries of the past; for their statements cannot be verified, but are untruthful and pernicious in the highest degree. The sober, industrious, self-respecting artisan of today has the privilege of entrance to many places and families which were closed against the merchants and manufacturers of one hundred years ago; and he stands possessed of opportunities such as were not possible even to the men of the last generation.

Citizenship stands inseparably connected with the family. The family is practically a little state in itself, embodying on a smaller scale, all those vital and fundamental principles which make up the larger life of the nation. It is in the family that we first come under government. Our earliest lessons in obedience are those which arise from the authority of our parents and guardians. It is in the home that we discover that we cannot do altogether as we please, but that others, as well as ourselves, must be regarded. And it will not be difficult to discern that, in the various phases of home life, we have represented almost all the forms of government which have become embodied in the various kinds of national administration now prevailing in the various parts of the earth.

In a well-ordered home, the authority would be such that every one could have the largest freedom of action consistent with the general good. When the freedom of any one made itself a cause of annoyance to the rest, it would have to be curtailed. As fast as the children grew to deserve more liberty, it would be given them; but always on condition that they prove themselves worthy to be entrusted with this larger life.

But with this increase of freedom and privilege, comes the increase of responsibility. Every member of the family who is old enough to appreciate its privileges is old enough to share its burdens. Some specific duties should be assigned to each, however simple these may be; and for the performance of these duties, each should be held to be personally responsible. Precisely this is needed in the larger sphere of the state; and when this can be attained and maintained, the good of the state will be both effectually and permanently assured.

A true lover of his country will have, as his ruling idea, that the state is for the people, and that America has been made to make and sustain happy Americans. No nation is in a satisfactory condition when large portions of its population are discontented and miserable. The comfortable classes will generally take care of themselves; but they need to know that their own prosperity is bound up with the condition of the uncomfortable classes. And even if it were not so, it would be their duty to advocate such social reforms as would tend to raise men intellectually, morally, and circumstantially. The carrying into effect of all this opens up a vast realm of service for the public good; and the proper performance of this service, in all its several branches, constitutes good citizenship.

Speaking in general terms, we may say that a citizen of a country is one born in that country. If you were born in the United States, then you are a citizen of the United States. This one simple fact endows you with all the privileges of our great nation, and, at the same time, lays upon you a measure of responsibility for the nation's welfare.

In addition to those who are trained for American citizenship in American homes, we have among us a large body of men who are "citizens by adoption." Millions of people have immigrated to America; and to these it has become the country of their own free choice.

Every good citizen will give attention to public affairs. He will not only vote for good men and good measures, but he will use his personal influence to have others do the same. Ours is a government of the people, and is neither better nor worse than the people make it. We should study the needs of our country, and keep ourselves well informed on all the current questions of the day, and then, by an honest and intelligent exercise of the privileges which the nation grants us, prove ourselves citizens of the very highest type.
____________________

Also available through Amazon.com in quality trade paperback and Kindle e-book download editions.

Be a Man

samuelalger — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:38:22 +0000

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

Entry #33 in the Raising Great Americans Project! Click Here to learn More!

THE IDEAL MAN

MEMORY GEMS

From the lowest depth there is a path to the highest height.

--Carlyle.

A man seldom loses the respect of others until he has lost his own.

--F. W. Robertson

There are certain things we feel to be beautiful
and good, and we must hunger after them.

--George Eliot

The man who thinks himself inferior to his
fellows, deserves to be, and generally is.

--William Black

It is characteristic of small men to avoid
emergencies; of great men to meet them.

--Charles Kingsley

Every man has characteristics which make him a distinct personality; a different individual from every other individual. It is an interesting fact that a man cannot change his nature, though he may conceal it; while no art or application will teach him to know himself, as he really is, or as others see him.

If the idea of humanity carry with it the corresponding idea of a physical, intellectual, and moral nature--if it be this trinity of being which constitutes the man,--then let us think of the first or the second elements as we may, it is the third which completes our conception. Let us praise the mechanism of the body to the utmost; let it be granted that the height and force of our intellect bespeaks a glorious intelligence; still our distinctive excellence and preeminence lies in moral and spiritual perfection.

There are those who think and speak as if manhood consisted in birth or titles, or in extent of power and authority. They are satisfied if they can only reckon among their ancestors some of the great and illustrious, or if noble blood but flow in their veins. But if they have no other glory than that of their ancestors; if all their greatness lies in a name; if their titles are their only virtues; if it be necessary to call up past ages to find something worthy of our homage,--then their birth rather disparages and dishonors them.

That these creatures lay claim to the name and the attributes of man, is a desecration. Man is a noble being. There may be rank, and title, and ancestry, and deeds of renown, where there is no intellectual power. Nor would we unduly exalt reason. There may be mental greatness in no common degree, and yet be a total absence of those higher moral elements which bring our manhood more clearly into view. It is the combination of intellectual power and moral excellence which goes to make the perfect man.

The world suffers for want of men who are educated all over; whose nerves are brought to their acutest sensibility; whose brain are cultured, keen, and penetrating; whose hands are deft; whose eyes are alert and sensitive, and whose hearts are tender, broad, magnanimous and true. Indeed, the only man who can satisfy the demands of an age like this, is the man who has been rounded into perfectness by being cultured along all the lines we have indicated in the foregoing pages.

This education must commence with the very first opening of the infant mind. Our lessons will multiply and be of a still higher character with the progress of our years. Truth may succeed truth, according to the mental power and capacity; nor must our instruction cease till the probationary state shall close. Our education can finish only with the termination of life.

Everyone is conscious of a most peculiar feeling when he looks at anything whose formation or development is imperfect. Let him take up an imperfectly-formed crystal, or an imperfectly-developed flower, and he can scarcely describe his feelings. The same holds true as to the organization and structure of the human body. Who ever contemplates stunted growth, or any kind of visible deformity, with complacency and satisfaction? And why should we not look for full mental development, and for the most perfect moral maturity? If what is imperfect constitutes the exception in the physical world, why should it be otherwise in the world of mind and of morals? Is it a thing to be preferred, to be stunted, and little in our intellectual and moral stature? Or do we prefer a state of childhood to that of a perfect man? If the mind is the measure of the man, and if uprightness constitutes the noblest aspect of life, then our advancement in knowledge and in righteousness should appear unto all men.

There is a god in the meanest man; there is a philanthropist in the stingiest miser; there is a hero in the biggest coward,--which an emergency great enough will call out. The blighting greed of gain, the chilling usages and cold laws of trade, encase many a noble heart in crusts of selfishness; but great emergencies break open the prison doors, and the whole heart pours itself forth in deeds of charity and mercy.

The poor and unfortunate are our opportunity, our character-builders, the great schoolmasters of our moral and spiritual growth. Every kind and noble deed performed for others, is transmuted into food which nourishes the motive promoting its performance, and strengthens the muscles of habit. Gladstone, in the midst of pressing duties, found time to visit a poor sick boy whom he had seen sweeping the street crossings. He endeared himself to the heart of the English people by this action more than by almost any other single event of his life; and this incident is more talked about to-day than almost any of his so-called greater deeds.

Not what men do, but what their lives promise and prophesy, gives hope to the race. To keep us from discouragement, Nature now and then sends us a Washington, a Lincoln, a Kossuth, a Gladstone, towering above his fellows, to show us she has not lost her ideal.

We call a man like Shakespeare a genius, not because he makes new discoveries, but because he shows us to ourselves,--shows us the great reserve in us, which, like the oil-fields, awaited a discoverer,--and because he says that which we had thought or felt, but could not express. Genius merely holds the glass up to nature. We can never see in the world what we do not first have in ourselves.

"Every man," says Theodore Parker, "has at times in his mind the ideal of what he should be, but is not. In all men that seek to improve, it is better than the actual character. No one is so satisfied with himself that he never wishes to be wiser, better, and more perfect."

The ideal is the continual image that is cast upon the brain; and these images are as various as the stars; and, like them, differ one from another in magnitude. It is the quality of the aspiration that determines the true success or failure of a life. A man may aspire to be the best billiard-player, the best coachman, the best wardroom politician, the best gambler, or the most cunning cheat. He may rise to be eminent in his calling; but, compared with other men, his greatest height will be below the level of the failure of him who chooses an honest profession. No jugglery of thought, no gorgeousness of trappings, can make the low high, the dishonest honest, the vile pure. As is a man's ideal or aspiration, so shall his life be.

But when all this has been said, it still remains true that much of the difference between man and man arises from the variety of occupations and practices,--a certain special training which develops thought and intelligence in special directions. All men meet, however, on the common level of common sense. A man's thought is indicated by his talk, by verbal expression. Mental action and expression is affected by the senses, passions, and appetites.

Whatever great thing in life a man does, he never would have done in that precise way except for the peculiar training and experience which developed him; and no single incident in his life, however trifling, may be excepted in the work of rounding him out to the exact character he becomes.

The poet is really calling for what we regard as the ideal man, when he says:

"God give us men. A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands:
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor--men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And scorn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty, and in private thinking."
____________________

Also available through Amazon.com in quality trade paperback and Kindle e-book download editions.

Declare Your Independence!

samuelalger — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:38:05 +0000

Take life like a man—as though the world had waited for your coming. Don't take your cue from the weak, the prejudiced, the trimmers, the cowards;--but rather from the illustrious ones of earth. Dare to take the side that seems wrong to others, if it seems right to you; and you will attain to an order of life the most noble and complete…

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

Entry #32 in the Raising Great Americans Project! Click Here to learn More!

INDEPENDENCE

MEMORY GEMS

Keep out of the crowd, if you have to get above it.

--M. C Peters

The freedom of the mind is the highest form of independence.

--G. B. Fisk

A country cannot subsist without liberty, nor liberty without virtue.

--Rousseau

The spirit of independence is not merely a jealousy of our
own particular rights, but a respect for the rights of others.

--S. Baring-Gould

The love of independence is not only instinctive in man,
but its possession is essential to his moral development.

--George Eliot

A great many persons carry in their minds a very mistaken idea as to what constitutes a truly noble life. To live is not merely to exist; it is to live unbiased and uninfluenced by low and belittling human influences. It is to give breadth and expansion to the soul; first through a clear discrimination between right and wrong; and then in living up to the right. Full manhood, the full realization and fruition of all that is best and greatest in man, depends upon freedom of thought and independence of action.

Some countries have given especial attention to the cultivation of this trait. For example: It has been pointed out that "among the best products of Scotland has been her love of independence. A ruggedness of spirit has marked her children. Strength stamps her heroes. The gentle Burns was as strong as Knox,--not in character, but in the assertion of 'A man's a man for a' that;' and a great many of Scotland's noblest sons have been brought into public notice through the manifestation of their strong personality."

Vast numbers of men and women ruin their lives by failing to assert themselves. They sink into the grave with scarcely a trace to indicate that they ever lived. They live and they die. Cradle and grave are brought close together; there is nothing between them. There have been hundreds who could have rivaled the patriotism of a Washington, or the humanity of a Howard, or the eloquence of a Demosthenes, and who have left behind them no one memorial of their existence, because of lack of lofty courage, sublime moral heroism, and the assertion of their individuality.

The world's greatest things have been accomplished by individuals. Vast social reformations have originated in individual souls. Truths that now sway the world were first proclaimed by individual lips. Great thoughts that are now the axioms of humanity sprang from the center of individual hearts. Do not suffer others to shape your lives for you; but do all you can to shape them for yourselves.

Sydney Smith insisted upon this quality of manhood and womanhood as indispensable. He said: "There is one circumstance I would preach up morning, noon, and night, to young persons for the management of their understanding: Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your own line of talent. Be what Nature intended you for, and you will succeed; be anything else, and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing."

It is a good thing for a boy to wait upon himself as much as possible. The more he has to depend upon his own exertions, the more manly a fellow will he become. Self-dependence will call out his energies, and bring into exercise his talents. It is not in the hothouse, but on the rugged Alpine cliffs, where the storms beat most violently, that the toughest plants grow. So it is with man. The wisest charity is to help a boy to help himself. Let him never hear any language but this: You have your own way to make, and it depends on your own exertion whether you succeed or fail.

Sherman once wrote to General Grant, "You are now Washington's legitimate successor, and occupy a position of almost dangerous elevation; but if you continue, as heretofore, to be yourself, -- simple, honest, and unpretending,--you will enjoy through life the respect and love of friends, and the homage of millions of human beings."

Of course we must guard against the error of carrying our sense of independence too far. Wordsworth hit the truth when he said: "These two things, contradictory as they may seem, must go together,--manly dependence and manly independence,--manly reliance and manly self-reliance."

Still, after all is said, we do need more healthy independence. Looking out upon society, we see how slavish men and women are to fashion and frivolity. Society life is largely a surface life, spoiled by fear of gossip. Young people need to take clearer views of this matter, and to stand by their own convictions at any cost. The question to be settled by most of us is, Shall I steer or drift? Our advice is, by all means have a lofty purpose before you, and then remain loyal to it.

Some boys think independence consists in doing whatever they please. They think it is smart to be "tough." A story told by Admiral Farragut about his early boyhood, aptly illustrates this phase of young America's independence. He says: "When I was a boy, ten years of age, I was with my father on board of a man-of-war. I had some qualities that I thought made a man of me. I could swear like an old salt; could drink as stiff a glass of grog as if I had doubled Cape Horn; and could smoke like a locomotive. I was great at cards; and fond of gaming in any shape. At the close of dinner one day my father turned everybody out of the cabin, locked the door, and said to me: 'David, what do you mean to be?' 'I mean to follow the sea.' 'Follow the sea! yes, to be a poor, miserable, drunken sailor before the mast; be kicked and cuffed about the world; and die in some fever hospital in a foreign clime.' 'No,' said I, 'I'll tread the quarter-deck, and command as you do.' 'No, David; no boy ever trod the quarter-deck with such principles as you have. You'll have to change your whole course of life if you ever become a man.'

"My father left me and went on deck. I was stunned by the rebuke, and overwhelmed with mortification. 'A poor, miserable, drunken sailor before the mast!' That's my fate, is it! I'll change my life, and change it at once! I will never utter another oath; I will never drink another drop of intoxicating liquor; I will never gamble! I have kept these three vows to this very hour. That was the turning point in my destiny."

A great many men begin to lose their individuality of conviction the moment they begin life's business. Many a young man has sacrificed his individuality on the altar that a profligate companion has built for him. Many a young man who knew right, has allowed some empty-headed street-corner loafer to lower his own high moral tone lest he should seem singular in the little world of society surrounding him. And many a lad whose life promised well at the beginning, has gone to the bad, or lost his chance in life, because he never learned to say "No!"

In the Revolutionary War, after the surrender of General Lincoln, at Charleston, the whole of South Carolina was overrun by the British army. Among those captured by the redcoats was a small boy, thirteen years of age. He was carried as a prisoner of war to Camden. While there, a British officer, in a very imperious tone, ordered the boy to clean his boots, which were covered with mud.

"Here, boy! You young rebel, what are you doing there? Take these boots and clean them; and be quick about it, too!"

The boy looked up at him and said: "Sir, I won't do it. I am a prisoner of war, and expect proper treatment from you, sir." This boy was Andrew Jackson, who afterward became president of the United States. Boys with such a spirit make noble men.

Exaggerated individuality makes a man impracticable. But the danger of our times is to copy after others, and thus destroy our force and effectiveness. Live, then, like an individual. Take life like a man—as though the world had waited for your coming. Don't take your cue from the weak, the prejudiced, the trimmers, the cowards;--but rather from the illustrious ones of earth. Dare to take the side that seems wrong to others, if it seems right to you; and you will attain to an order of life the most noble and complete.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

For the last one hundred years, one of the first historical facts taught the youth of American birth, is that Thomas Jefferson wrote our famous Declaration of Independence. His bold, free, independent nature, admirably fitted him for the writing of this remarkable document. To him was given the task of embodying, in written language, the sentiments and the principles for which, at that moment, a liberty-loving people were battling with their lives. He succeeded, because he wrote the Declaration while his heart burned with that same patriotic fire which Patrick Henry so eloquently expressed when he said: "I care not what others may do, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death."

In all nations men have sacrificed everything they held dear for religious and political freedom. Their names are justly written in the book of fame; but in the front rank of them all, we place the brave signers of the Declaration of Independence, with Jefferson in the lead.

The acceptance and the signing of this document by the members of the Continental Congress was a dramatic scene, seldom, if ever, surpassed in the annals of history. As John Hancock placed his great familiar signature upon it, he jestingly remarked, that John Bull could read that without spectacles; and then, becoming more serious, he began to impress upon his comrades the necessity of all hanging together in this matter. "Yes, indeed," interrupted Franklin, "we must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

The Declaration of Independence placed the American colonies squarely upon the issue of political freedom. Its composition was a master-stroke which will continue as a lasting memorial to the head and heart of its author.
____________________

Also available through Amazon.com in quality trade paperback and Kindle e-book download editions.

wise-words « WordPress.com Tag Feed

Unnew Pinching Cars Fevered!

Bang on the money

ketika aku memohon

A Few Wise Words.

Membuat suatu pilihan

Gus would agree....

Related articles by Zemanta

Wise Success Quotes and Sayings

Wise Business Quotes and Sayings

Wise Marriage Sayings and Quotes

Runaway train

Wise Words of the Tot #3

From the Mouths of Babes (grown into teens!)

A Fourth of July Story of our Great American Flag

FOURTH OF JULY

A STORY OF THE FLAG

That Sense of Achievement and Pride 2

YOU Can Be a Great American!

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

THE IDEAL CITIZEN

Only YOU Can Save America

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

THE CITIZEN AND THE NATION

The Citizen and the Community

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

THE CITIZEN AND THE COMMUNITY

The Home - Forge of Good Citizenship

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

THE CITIZEN AND THE HOME

Be A Good Citizen

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

WHAT CONSTITUTES GOOD CITIZENSHIP

Be a Man

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

THE IDEAL MAN

Declare Your Independence!

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

INDEPENDENCE

THOMAS JEFFERSON