Some people strengthen society just by being the kind of people they are.
John Gardner
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Hello Jen
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Doing the right thing by someone they've badly hurt is beyond the ability of drug users..
To man up or woman up to take joyous responsibility for the society they live in is beyond the ability of the sluggards of the world.
To provide genuine welfare for the society they live in is impossible for the sub-human parasites of life.
To feed the hungry, heal the sick and help the poor is out of bounds for the stupid.
To face the challenge of doing an honest day's work is anathema to the crooked.
And to rely on the gratification of the senses to solve the difficult problems of living is prurient, self righteous suicide.
In a flippant mood I've said that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who leave a mess and those who clean it up. Maybe, since I just had another birthday, I am finally becoming an old curmudgeon. I don't think so though. I'm not running out of compassion, I'm just running out of patience. The worst and most difficult kind of mess to clean up is one who has made a mess out of their lives. If someone wants to really be a member of the low life, antisocial, human trash, let them. And if someone really wants to ally themselves with those weaklings, let them. Who am I to try to take a mop to those unfortunate souls?
I want to continue to be the kind of man who can strengthen society in whatever way I can, which in these days is fairly limited to Vagabond Journeys. And I want to continue to admire and support others who are doing the same strengthening.
I have no patience with the selfish, self serving, self gratifying, self indulgent wastes who seem to people the planet. If someone wants to grow up to be a perpetual adolescent, with no purpose except self destructive behavior and no strength of character what can one person do except to keep pointing out the way and preaching the sermon to those who aren't listening One can always hope that an awaking will come. But for some hopeless people the awakening comes too late in life. Then there is desperation, a fear so deep and suffocating it kills.
Fortunately for us who live there are people who keep civilization from toppling just by nature of who they are. I wish to know only those people and to be one of them in my humble way.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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Showing posts with label John Gardner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Gardner. Show all posts
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Vengeance
Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above moral squalor.
John Gardner
***********************
Where are the men of inegrity? Who is standing up and speaking out, loud and clear, against the moral squalor that is sweeping the country?
There's an untold number of death threats against Casey Anthony, any one named Casey Anthony and anyone who looks like her. There are threats against all of the jurors who found her not guilty, against those with the same names as the jurors and anyone who looks like one of the jurors. There are web sites against Casey Anthony where thousands of people have spit their rage. There's a TV news person who still calls it "murder" and refers to the Anthony home as "the crime scene." That person should be ashamed of herself and quit the air waves. There's a lawyer who says that Casey Anthony should not be allowed to make any money from an interview or a book. Why not? She's in serious debt. Where is she gong to get the money? There's a pastor who says we should forgive her. For what? He draws a parallel with the victim who forgave the Nazis. Where's the connection? All this hatred, vengeance and venom illustrates the feces smeared bottom of the American character. It's beyond disgusting
Are people so angry, frustrated and bewildered by the awful condition the country is in that they have to take out their feelings somewhere so Casey Anthony provides a simple target? If so the target of their threats should be against the brain stalled, cowards of Congress who would deprive the American people of the Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Veterans Benefits and other vital programs while holding on to a financial theory that doesn't work. How can a government be so brutal to its own people?
Vengeance is one of the worst passions human beings can be fooled into. It was revenge that motivated Osama bin Laden, it was revenge that brought down the World Trade Center, it was revenge that began the War in Iraq, it is revenge that motivates terrorism, it causes road rage, fights at children's ball games and domestic violence. It's vengeance that prevents progress and forward motion in the affairs of the country. Where are the men of integrity? Are they cowards like the conservatives in Congress? Am I the only one in the land who is shouting to call off the witch hunt and stop taking vengeance on Americans, stop taking money from where it isn't and start looking for where it is. Is there any place still left in the United States where there is no moral squalor?
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Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
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SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
John Gardner
***********************
Where are the men of inegrity? Who is standing up and speaking out, loud and clear, against the moral squalor that is sweeping the country?
There's an untold number of death threats against Casey Anthony, any one named Casey Anthony and anyone who looks like her. There are threats against all of the jurors who found her not guilty, against those with the same names as the jurors and anyone who looks like one of the jurors. There are web sites against Casey Anthony where thousands of people have spit their rage. There's a TV news person who still calls it "murder" and refers to the Anthony home as "the crime scene." That person should be ashamed of herself and quit the air waves. There's a lawyer who says that Casey Anthony should not be allowed to make any money from an interview or a book. Why not? She's in serious debt. Where is she gong to get the money? There's a pastor who says we should forgive her. For what? He draws a parallel with the victim who forgave the Nazis. Where's the connection? All this hatred, vengeance and venom illustrates the feces smeared bottom of the American character. It's beyond disgusting
Are people so angry, frustrated and bewildered by the awful condition the country is in that they have to take out their feelings somewhere so Casey Anthony provides a simple target? If so the target of their threats should be against the brain stalled, cowards of Congress who would deprive the American people of the Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Veterans Benefits and other vital programs while holding on to a financial theory that doesn't work. How can a government be so brutal to its own people?
Vengeance is one of the worst passions human beings can be fooled into. It was revenge that motivated Osama bin Laden, it was revenge that brought down the World Trade Center, it was revenge that began the War in Iraq, it is revenge that motivates terrorism, it causes road rage, fights at children's ball games and domestic violence. It's vengeance that prevents progress and forward motion in the affairs of the country. Where are the men of integrity? Are they cowards like the conservatives in Congress? Am I the only one in the land who is shouting to call off the witch hunt and stop taking vengeance on Americans, stop taking money from where it isn't and start looking for where it is. Is there any place still left in the United States where there is no moral squalor?
-------------------------------------
Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
********************************
SUMMER QUESTION
It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.
Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
10 answers so far.
You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
************************
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Bits and Pieces
Excellence is doing ordinary things, extraordinarily well.
John Gardner
*****************
When you get right down to it everything we do is ordinary. All of the great achievements in the world are backed up and prepared by a thousand details all of which must be performed expertly. The player who carries the ball across the goal line can't do it unless the other 10 members of the team perform their functions well. It requires team work.
An orchestra also needs every musician to perform his or her function with excellence even if the score sometimes just calls of an accompaniment to a soloist. That's team work.
Think of the tiny details a chef or a surgeon must get right in order for the result to be excellent. Those details may be carried out by one person but it also requires team work; a team of one.
We all want to get to the results as soon as possible, but we have to enlist in the basic details along the way. The best way is to learn to love those details, a painter claiming his brushes, a teacher carefully reading and grading papers or preparing a lesson plan, a musician tuning his instrument.
One afternoon I was watching a trombone player getting ready for an orchestra rehearsal. First he ran up and down scales, then he played combinations and exercises to get facility, All of that took about an hour of great concentration. If a particular exercise didn't please him he went back over it until it did. He accomplished all of that before he even looked at the music he was going to play that afternoon. You can't just fall out of bed, have a coffee, take the instrument out of its case and expect to play Beethoven.
I doesn't matter what you are, a writer, a painter, a technician, a mechanic, a carpenter, a doctor, a teacher, an athlete. a scientist, an astronaut, you have a stack of details, of ordinary things that must be done and done well and with enjoyment. The enjoyment comes with knowing that if you do everything right the final result will be excellent.
DB
***************
Weekend Contest
This contest is open for the next 9 days.
APRIL FOOLERY
Choose as many numbers as you want and fill in the blanks
Winners will be posted on the evening of April 4.
The decisions of the nasty biased judge are final. Prizes will awarded on the basis of originality and whatever makes me laugh.
On the first day of April my true love gave to me
12______
11______
10______
9_______
8_______
7_______
6_______
5_______
4_______
3_______
2_______
and_______
Good luck
DB
****************
John Gardner
*****************
When you get right down to it everything we do is ordinary. All of the great achievements in the world are backed up and prepared by a thousand details all of which must be performed expertly. The player who carries the ball across the goal line can't do it unless the other 10 members of the team perform their functions well. It requires team work.
An orchestra also needs every musician to perform his or her function with excellence even if the score sometimes just calls of an accompaniment to a soloist. That's team work.
Think of the tiny details a chef or a surgeon must get right in order for the result to be excellent. Those details may be carried out by one person but it also requires team work; a team of one.
We all want to get to the results as soon as possible, but we have to enlist in the basic details along the way. The best way is to learn to love those details, a painter claiming his brushes, a teacher carefully reading and grading papers or preparing a lesson plan, a musician tuning his instrument.
One afternoon I was watching a trombone player getting ready for an orchestra rehearsal. First he ran up and down scales, then he played combinations and exercises to get facility, All of that took about an hour of great concentration. If a particular exercise didn't please him he went back over it until it did. He accomplished all of that before he even looked at the music he was going to play that afternoon. You can't just fall out of bed, have a coffee, take the instrument out of its case and expect to play Beethoven.
I doesn't matter what you are, a writer, a painter, a technician, a mechanic, a carpenter, a doctor, a teacher, an athlete. a scientist, an astronaut, you have a stack of details, of ordinary things that must be done and done well and with enjoyment. The enjoyment comes with knowing that if you do everything right the final result will be excellent.
DB
***************
Weekend Contest
This contest is open for the next 9 days.
APRIL FOOLERY
Choose as many numbers as you want and fill in the blanks
Winners will be posted on the evening of April 4.
The decisions of the nasty biased judge are final. Prizes will awarded on the basis of originality and whatever makes me laugh.
On the first day of April my true love gave to me
12______
11______
10______
9_______
8_______
7_______
6_______
5_______
4_______
3_______
2_______
and_______
Good luck
DB
****************
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