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Tuesday, August 13, 2002
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Robert J. Sawyer. "Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace."
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11:06:57 PM 
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Thomas A. Edison. "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
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11:02:26 PM
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George Eliot. "The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice."
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10:40:16 PM
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“Nonviolence includes not only the refusal to engage in lethal activities but it also presumes a commitment to strive for conditions for fairness, justice and respect in human relations. Non-violence presumes a commitment to speak to the conditions that often give rise to warfare. Therefore, nonviolence is not centrally about the things one is opposed to, nor even about the actions on refuses to participate in. Nonviolence implies an active commitment to social change that would ultimately result in a fair distribution of world resources, a more creative and democratic cooperation between peoples, and a common pursuit of those social, scientific, medical and political achievements that serve to enhance the human enterprise and prevent warfare.”
Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, from “Subverting Hatred--The Challenge of Nonviolence in Religious Traditions” (Boston Research Center for the 21st Century)
It's a strange courage
you give me ancient star
Shine alone in the sunrise
toward which you lend no part!
William Carlos Williams, "El Hombre"
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1:58:59 PM
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“People whose lives are barren and insecure seem to show a greater willingness to obey than people who are self-sufficient and self-confident. To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint. They are eager to barter their independence for relief from the burdens of willing, deciding and being responsible for inevitable failure. They willingly abdicate the directing of their lives to those who want to plan, command and shoulder all responsibility. Moreover, submission by all to a supreme leader is an approach to their ideal of equality. In time of crisis, during floods, earthquakes, epidemics, depressions and wars, separate individual effort is of no avail, and people of every condition are ready to obey and follow a leader. To obey is the the only firm point in a chaotic day-to-day existence.”
Eric Hoffler, “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements” (Perennial Library)
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety”
Benjamin Franklin. Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
“The first job of a citizen is to keep your mouth open.”
Gunter Grass, German novelist
Comments: Here we see the question: obey or follow ones heart. I was raised to think that citizenship demanded obedience. Yet that same tenet allowed Nazi Germany and many other wars and abuses.
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1:57:50 PM
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“We’re going to protect and honor the Constitution, and I don’t have the authority to set it aside. If I had the authority to set it aside, this would be a dangerous government, and I wouldn’t respect it.”
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Legal Times, October 22, 2001
“We are still under terrorism alerts, and we are obligated as citizens to report unusual activity.”
Dick Tracy, “Crimestoppers Textbook,” Sunday comics, July 28, 2002
“No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.”
Theodore Roosevelt
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1:54:58 PM
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“One of the most fundamental challenges we face is the realization of a humane world. This must be more than a vision. It is a moral imperative. The facts in the world around us speak for themselves. We need new approaches and tools. We need a new form of diplomacy. It will have to be based on the collective efforts of a variety of actors, inside and outside of the government. It will depend upon our ability to raise people’s awareness of fundamental human security needs, and it will require a new and broad-based consensus to address squarely basic human needs and rights affecting the daily lives of millions. This diplomacy reaches beyond relations between states to engage individuals and organizations from a variety of sectors within civil society.”
Lloyd Axworthy, former Foreign Minister of Canada and Knut Vollebaek, former Foreign Minister of Norway, “New Diplomacy for a Humane World,” from “Peace is Possible” (The International Peace Bureau)
“We don't have to be a soldier in a uniform
To be of service over there
While the boys so bravely stand
With the weapons made by hand
Let us trust and use the weapon of prayer.”
The Louvin Brothers song, “Weapon of Prayer.”
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1:53:54 PM
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Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down the drain
You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in my veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned
But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
Even Jesus would never forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy your forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
‘Til I’m sure that you’re dead
Bob Dylan song, “Masters of War”
Comments: War is more than just the bombs and the killing. War is making another person or group your enemy, to "hope that they die." In this piece, I see war, not peace. -Rick
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1:52:25 PM
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"We do survive every moment, after all, except the last one." --John Updike
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11:48:22 AM
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Having a man in your life is like a deck of cards:
You need a heart to love them.
You need a diamond to marry them.
You need a club to beat them.
And you need a spade to bury the bastards.
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11:45:55 AM
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"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." --Thomas Jefferson
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11:43:26 AM
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Concerned about fitness in my middle 40s, I enrolled in an aerobics class. To my dismay I walked into a room filled with much younger women and decided to combat my nervousness with humor. "I'm here to do my postnatal exercises," I told the instructor.
She gave me an appraising look. "How old is your baby?"
"Twenty-six," I replied.
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11:42:27 AM
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On a flight to Florida, I was preparing my notes for one of the parent-education seminars I conduct as an educational psychologist. The elderly woman sitting next to me explained that she was returning to Miami after having spent two weeks visiting her six children, 18 grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren in Boston. Then she inquired what I did for a living.
I told her, fully expecting her to question me for free professional advice.
Instead she sat back and said, "If there's anything you want to know, just ask me."
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11:38:24 AM
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Richard Bach. "You choose, you live the consequences. Every yes, no, maybe, creates the school you call your personal experience."
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7:19:05 AM
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© Copyright
2002
Rick@Leaders.net.
Last update:
11/18/2002; 10:51:43 PM.
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