The Good Neighbor

"In the field of world policy, I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

This Land And Country

"America has meant to the world a land in which the common man who means well and is willing to do his part has access to all the necessary means of a good life." - Alvin S. Johnson

America

"America is not merely a nation - but a nation of nations." - Lyndon Baines Johnson

The Office Of President

"The American Presidency will demand more than ringing manifestos issued from the rear of the battle. It will demand that the President place himself in the very thick of the fight; that he care passionately about the fate of the people he leads." - John Fitzgerald Kennedy

United States Of America

"One country, one constitution, one destiny." - Daniel Webster

Task

"He who does nothing, need hope for nothing." - Johann Von Schiller

Words

"A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed." Henrik Ibsen

Intellect

"The warrior who cultivates his mind polishes his armament." - Bouffers

Our Task

"The task of education is to make children fit to live in a society by persuading them to learn and accept its codes - the rules and conventions of communication whereby the society holds itself together." - A.W. Watts

Influence

"We should not underestimate the impact a positive adult influence can have on a young person." - M. Milburn

Fact

"There are 147 million orphans in the world; more children than the entire population of Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands combined." - The Philadelphia Trumpet

Economics

"Money spent in bringing children up to be strong, intelligent and resourceful is the best saving, both for the individual and for civilization." - B. Culkin

Incomplete

"Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources." - William James

Written, Spoken

"And though I have the gift of prophesy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing." - The Apostle Paul

Invisible

"To finally recognize our own invisibility is to finally be on the path to visibility. To be visible is to see ourselves and each other in a different mirror of history." - Mitsuye Yamada

Light

"Interpretation involves four related intellectual acts: observing, connecting, inferring and concluding." - Diyanni

Good & Evil

"The line separating good and evil runs not between nations but inside every human heart." - J. Lampman

The Future

"He who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road." - Anon

Dull

"Stagnant minds are the greatest obstacle to progress." - William Danforth

Diversion

"Where there is no game there are no poachers." - Ebner Escherbach

Wisdom

"Teach a child to read and write and you have put into his hands the great keys to wisdom." - Anon

Religion

"A religion without its mysteries is a temple without a God." - Anon

Christmas In Boston

A Problem Is Solved

"Most of the world's problems cannot be solved until someone is willing to give up doing what caused them." - Clark

Know Thyself

"He that knows himself; knows others." - Charles Colton

Quiescence

"Peace is the one condition of survival in the nuclear age." - Adlai Stevenson

Subjective

"Any subject can be made interesting, and therefore any subject can be made boring." - Hilaire

Ice

"Smooth runs the water when the brook is deep." - Shakespeare

Knowledge

"Knowledge is that which should be most freely shared, since in sharing, knowledge is multiplied rather than divided." - H. Daly

It Has Been Said

"Doing nothing is about the most tiresome work in the world because you cannot stop and rest." - Anon

Idleness

"Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than Kings and Parliaments." - Ben Franklin

On This Basis

"Let us be willing to remold society by redefining what it means to be a human being." - Hillary Clinton

Global Leadership

"America should lead - alone when it must, with allies when it can." - Madeleine Albright

Defined

"Here on earth, God's work must truly be our own." - John F. Kennedy

View

"Perhaps the only people who view the world realistically are the cynics and the saints." - J. Waller

A Thought

"None are for being in fault, but for not being what they would be thought." - Anonymous

'The Fullness Thereof'

Dishonesty

"That which is won ill, will never wear well, for there is a curse attends it." - H. Matthew

Distance

"The distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue." - Campbell

Dreams

"I talk of dreams: which are children of an idle brain, Bogot of nothing but vain phantasy which is as thin of substance as the air; and more inconstant than the wind." - Shakespeare

Ambition

"Ambition - idly vain; revenge and malice swell her train." - P.R.

Dreams

"Dreams, indeed, are ambition; for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream." - Shakespeare

Preview: The Grapes Of Wrath

In Literature: The Grapes Of Wrath

"Of all the novels of that decade, The Grapes Of Wrath, etched most sharply the remembered contours of the depression, re-created most vividly the atmosphere of the days of crisis, of unemployment and starvation, of the dust bowl and the triple-A program, of relief and reform, and spoke most authentically the voice of the New Deal. "Burn the coffee for fuel in the ships. Burn corn to keep warm. Dump potatoes in the river and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let the putrescence drop down into the earth. ... The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in the ditch and covered with quick-lime, ... and in the eyes of the people there is a failure and in the eyes of the hungry there is growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." (Grapes Of Wrath)

In Search Of Sensationalism

"In American Journalism a new style emphasizing the unique and the sensational had been set by the Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer, who took over the 'New York World' in 1883. "There is room in this great and growing city," Pulitzer announced to his readers, "For a journal that is not only cheap but bright, not only bright but large, not only large but democratic - dedicated to the cause of the people rather than to that of the purse potentates - devoted more to the news of the New than the Old World - that will expose all fraud and sham, fight all public evils and abuses - that will battle for the people with earnest sincerity." 'Pulitzer's World,' commonly considered the nation's first modern mass-circulation daily, sold for two-cents a copy and in fifteen years increased its circulation from 15,000 to 1.5 million. Sensationalism meant a new prominence and vividness for crime, disaster, sex, scandal, and monstrosities." - D.J. Boorstin

An Inscription At The Cathedral Of Lubeck

Ye call me Maker, and obey Me not, Ye call Me Light, and see Me not, Ye call me Way, and take Me not, Ye call me Life, and desire Me not, Ye call Me Wise, and follow Me not, Ye call Me Fair, and love Me not, Ye call me Rich, and ask Me not, Ye call Me Eternal, and seek Me not, Ye call Me Gracious, and trust Me not, Ye call Me Noble, and serve Me not, Ye call Me Mighty, and honor Me not, If I condemn you, blame Me not.

Prejudice: A Global Problem

"Jonathan, A Korean-American, was a victim of racial prejudice as a child. As he grew up, he searched for a place where people would not prejudge him based on his facial features or racial background. He became a medical doctor in a town in northern Alaska, where his physical appearance was similar to that of many of his patients. He hoped that perhaps there, amid the cold winds of the Arctic Circle, he had finally escaped the even colder winds of prejudice. Any such hope was shattered when he provided medical assistance to a 25-year-old woman. As the patient came out of a coma, she looked at Jonathan's face and uttered a taunt with an expletive, revealing her deep-seated disdain for Koreans. For Jonathan, the incident was a painful reminder that all his efforts to move and to blend in could not provide him with an escape from prejudice. Jonathan's experience highlights a grim reality. Prejudice is found in every corner of the earth. It appears that wherever there are people, there is prejudice. The Global Face Of Prejudice ... Canada: "Despite embracing the country's diversity and instituting numerous legal and policy provisions to protect the rights of diverse communities, racism has continued to be a serious human rights challenge." - Amnesty International Briefing On Canada, 2012 .... Europe: "Fourty-Eight percent of Europeans believe that too little is done to tackle discrimination in their country." - Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination: A European Report, 2011 .... Africa: "Violence and discrimination against women remained widespread in many countries." - Amnesty International Report, 2012 .... Nepal: "Dalits ('untouchables') suffer from endemic discrimination, especially in the economic, social, and cultural spheres." - Human Rights Watch World Report, 2012 ... Eastern Europe: "Scapegoated abroad and the victims of prejudice at home, eastern Europe's Roma are the problem no politician wants to solve." - The Economist, 9-4-10 .... What Is Prejudice? ... People struggle to define prejudice. Some say it is a 'negative attitude or feeling toward an individual based solely on that individual's membership in a certain group.' Others say that this attitude is based on 'insufficient information,' which leads to the 'prejudgment of members of a group.' Whatever the case prejudices can be formed against another person because of his race, weight, gender, language, religion, or virtually any perceived difference. Despite the prevalence of prejudice, however, most people are quick to condemn it. This is truly a paradox. How could something so disliked be at the same time so widespread." - J.W.

2013: Poverty In The United States

New Census Data Reveals More Than 46 Million Americans Live In Poverty

"The U.S. Census Bureau released annual poverty figures Tuesday, revealing that 15 percent of Americans—including one in five children—lived in poverty in 2012. "With poverty holding at such a high rate, the importance of federal safety net programs is clear," said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. http://www.bread.org "The figures could have been significantly worse if it were not for federal programs helping to keep more Americans from falling into poverty." At 46.5 million, this was the second time in the last five years that we did not see a significant increase in poverty. This information follows the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Sept. 4 announcement that 14.5 percent of American households—including 16 million children—suffered from food insecurity in 2012. The official poverty numbers do not account for programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), or the Child Tax Credit (CTC). If the data accounted for SNAP, it would show the poverty rate as 1.3 percentage points lower. “Federally funded programs play a tremendous role in reducing poverty and helping to keep hunger at bay, but the official data often excludes their impact,” added Beckmann. This data comes as the House prepares to vote Sept. 19 on the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013 (HR 3102), which would cut nearly $40 billion from SNAP. http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44583 “These programs have proven, time and again, that they work. We must let Congress know that programs that prevent children from going to bed hungry must be protected, not gutted,” Beckmann continued. “This bill is an abdication of our national responsibility. We urge members of the House to vote ‘no’ on the bill and protect the moral and economic stability of our country.”

Did You Think Today?

"The world is hostile to serious thought. Our lives are cluttered with barriers that sear our minds with the habit of lazy, shallow thinking. Consider the insipid television and movies that pass for entertainment, transparently hostile toward anything approximating deep thought. Consider the overstimulated, technology-driven, information saturated nature of modern life. It is too noisy for us to hear ourselves think, yet so omnipresent and addictive that silence disquiets us. Even within respected circles of society, intellectuals are plagued by fundamental flaws in their thinking. Consider the education and scientific communities, which staunchly stand by the unprovable theory of evolution. Formal education can actually be a hindrance to quality thought - emphasizing the wrong subjects, approaching certain subjects improperly, bullying students into specific political and/or intellectual mind-sets, fostering a destructive social atmosphere. Little wonder that many of the great men and women of history were self-educated. How we think is critical. Our thoughts govern our moods, our attitudes, our actions. Thinking is the core of our being. Superficial, unfocused thinking produces a superficial, unfocused life. We are what we think. Trouble is, generally we are not taught how to think. It is a skill we are expected to know, without specific instruction. What is the quality of your thinking? Are you skilled at analyzing problems? Are you able to concentrate on things you want to concentrate on, or are you easily distracted? Vigorous thinking is fundamentally a matter of replacing inferior thoughts with quality thoughts. You cannot think shallow thoughts and deep thoughts at the same time - it's one or the other. So first you must push out, put off and purge the one in order to clear space for the other. You must first expunge the shallow thought that so easily fills your mind, and then fill that mental vacuum with quality thought." - Anonymous