Hmm

"If something is worth doing, it is worth doing poorly."  G.K. Chesterson

Hmm.  I've always believed if you are going to do something, you should do it well or not at all. But "doing it poorly" means you are doing something "worth doing", perhaps not that adeptly or proficiently, but acting rather than observing.  So go ahead, brush your teeth for 30 seconds rather than the ADA 2 minute recommendation. Or run that 15 minute mile. Just don't be bragging too much about your accomplishment.  The world needs more "doers", not more "commentators". (Yes. I recognize the irony in that statement.)

“A human being whose life is nurtured in an advantage which has accrued from the disadvantage of other human beings, and who prefers that this should remain as it is, is a human being by definition only, having much more in common with the bedbug, the tapeworm, the cancer, and the scavengers of the deep sea.”  James Agee from Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,  

Hmm. This of course has nothing to do with me and my privileged life.  It's those others, the exploiter 1% controlling 50% of the world's wealth.

Over the course of his life, Andrew Carnegie endowed 2,811 libraries and many charitable foundations as well as the internationally famous Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He gave away almost 90% of his fortune, and wrote an article, The Gospel of Wealth, encouraging other rich people to use their money to benefit society. He also bought 7,689 organs for churches. The purpose of the latter gift was, in Carnegie's words, "To lessen the pain of the sermons."

Hmm. Not every good deed is done for altruistic reasons. There is often an ulterior motive.  Often, it is the desire for praise or the admiration of others or some kind of personal gain. Carnegie's is at least honest. (I get Carnegie's sentiment, and although a talented organist playing a Bach fugue is thrilling, I prefer choral.) Nevertheless, whatever your motivation for performing a good deed, do it.

"The great secret of doctors, known only to their wives, but still hidden from the public, is that most things get better by themselves; most things, in fact, are better in the morning."  Lewis Thomas

Hmm. And then they don't.  Don't bank on it. Most never means always and never never means never.

"One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community.” Albert Einstein 

  

Hmm. Success is not defined by a fulsome obituary or a fat bank account. Besides, obituaries are a bastion of great fiction. Success should be measured by lives impacted.

In 1784 Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to his daughter saying that he was not pleased about the choice of bald eagle as the symbol of America. He wished it had not been chosen as a "representative of our country" because, he said, it is a "Bird of bad moral Character." Franklin wrote about the eagle: "Like those among Men who live by Sharping and Robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy." The Turkey is a much more respectable Bird, and ... a true original Native of America."

Hmm.  The majestic in flight bald eagle is a scavenger, an "opportunistic" eater, hence Franklin's "bad moral character" declaration.  But in my experience, turkeys are incredibly stupid. Have you ever been called "a turkey". It is an insult. I vote to stick with baldy.

"The only rational way of educating is to be an example. If one can't help it, a warning example. A. Einstein

Hmm. So you see, no one is really useless. You can always serve as a bad example.

Copyright ©  2021  Dave Hoplin