Saturday, April 23, 2011
MANTRAS
Perhaps it is the Easter season that has brought me to such a spiritual place. It does not matter what brought me to the writing table peering into the eternal, just that I am here and delighting once again in writing.
Almost every day I start the day with some reading, usually a biography. But this week I also spent some morning reading time with my mantras. These are now four dozen yellow index cards that I have been keeping for the past five years with writings and quotes that inspire me, keep hope alive and ward off despair. Here are some of them and their authors.
"Miracles are events and people that occur in your life that allow love to be expressed."
(Jack Shea in his 1992 book, "Starlight.") My life has been full of miracles.
"God can best be understood in the love parents show for their children." (excerpt from a homily on Holy Thursday by Fr. John Cusick) I am the oldest son of two of the most loving parents that walked this earth.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11-12)
"The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness." (from an essay by Michel deMontaigne)
Happy Easter
Voltaire
Sunday, April 3, 2011
A Letter to My Children on Churchill
Why study Winston Spencer Churchill's life ? There are many good reasons. Consider these.
This man's perseverance is the perfect antidote to any despair or discouragement that may cross your path. He had a roller coaster of a political career but was able to leap over gigantic hurdles to get him to the political stage as a world leader in 1940. Hundreds of millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic are better off for that leadership.
Winston was a champion of liberty and democracy. He gave people all over the world hope, inspired them and kept them free of paralyzing fear. He probably did that better than most theologians. Study his wartime speeches (in my library thankfully) for inspiring calls to action.
Winston had a love affair with the English language, political debate and the British Empire. All but the empire are thriving for his efforts.
In his youth Winston had little love and support from his father and mother. He was a poor student before he got to Sandhurst, the British military academy. He usually finished in the bottom of his class before entering Sandhurst. While he could not master the Greek and Roman classics and Latin, he was a good writer. He made his fortune as a writer of histories, biographies and reports of his military adventures.
His father, a prominent British politican who almost became Prime Minister, cruelly ridiculed him as a failure. His parents spent very little time with him before he entered Sandhurst. His primary emotional support in his early years was his nanny, "Woom." His Mother (a beautiful American socialite) became a big booster of his in his early 20's, helping him launch his military career and his career in journalism.
Churchill was a prolific writer who made his living from his own outstanding political skills, wits, courage and inspiring words. Though his father had been a prominent politician before an illness and early death at forty-seven and though Churchill was a descendant of the Duke of Marlborough, there was no family wealth for Churchill to inherit. He was entirely a self-made man.
Churchill always showed great courage as a warrior and political statesman. He stood for things and would not compromise on the principles of freedom, democracy and strength of the British Empire. He stuck his neck out on political positions, sometimes advancing his career in meteorically upward fashion and sometimes crashing to earth and near destruction. That happened several times in his life. He always came back from enormous political and financial setbacks. Those comebacks ranged from two to ten years. He "never gave in," just as he cautioned others never to do.
Churchill never gave up on his beliefs or himself or his country, regardless of how big his personal losses or rejections were or how wrong-headed the leaders of his country were. In 1929, for example, he lost most of the fortune he had accumulated in some bad investments, got ousted from the leadership of his Party's Cabinet and was severely injured in an auto accident in New York City. He came back from all three losses. It took time but he came back to wealth, health and finally at the age of 65 the leadership of Great Britain in its darkest days in May 1940, the first year of World War II.
For a ten year period, 1930-1940, he was the lone voice in the British Parliament arguing for a rearmament of Britain and fierce opposition to Hitler's rise to power in Germany. He could not get the British or American national leaders to listen to him or stop the Nazi threat. World War II could have been avoided and tens of millions of lives saved, if his wise vision had been shared before the outbreak of war in September 1939.
Greatness is the only way to describe this man. Keep him in mind as a mentor.
Voltaire
This man's perseverance is the perfect antidote to any despair or discouragement that may cross your path. He had a roller coaster of a political career but was able to leap over gigantic hurdles to get him to the political stage as a world leader in 1940. Hundreds of millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic are better off for that leadership.
Winston was a champion of liberty and democracy. He gave people all over the world hope, inspired them and kept them free of paralyzing fear. He probably did that better than most theologians. Study his wartime speeches (in my library thankfully) for inspiring calls to action.
Winston had a love affair with the English language, political debate and the British Empire. All but the empire are thriving for his efforts.
In his youth Winston had little love and support from his father and mother. He was a poor student before he got to Sandhurst, the British military academy. He usually finished in the bottom of his class before entering Sandhurst. While he could not master the Greek and Roman classics and Latin, he was a good writer. He made his fortune as a writer of histories, biographies and reports of his military adventures.
His father, a prominent British politican who almost became Prime Minister, cruelly ridiculed him as a failure. His parents spent very little time with him before he entered Sandhurst. His primary emotional support in his early years was his nanny, "Woom." His Mother (a beautiful American socialite) became a big booster of his in his early 20's, helping him launch his military career and his career in journalism.
Churchill was a prolific writer who made his living from his own outstanding political skills, wits, courage and inspiring words. Though his father had been a prominent politician before an illness and early death at forty-seven and though Churchill was a descendant of the Duke of Marlborough, there was no family wealth for Churchill to inherit. He was entirely a self-made man.
Churchill always showed great courage as a warrior and political statesman. He stood for things and would not compromise on the principles of freedom, democracy and strength of the British Empire. He stuck his neck out on political positions, sometimes advancing his career in meteorically upward fashion and sometimes crashing to earth and near destruction. That happened several times in his life. He always came back from enormous political and financial setbacks. Those comebacks ranged from two to ten years. He "never gave in," just as he cautioned others never to do.
Churchill never gave up on his beliefs or himself or his country, regardless of how big his personal losses or rejections were or how wrong-headed the leaders of his country were. In 1929, for example, he lost most of the fortune he had accumulated in some bad investments, got ousted from the leadership of his Party's Cabinet and was severely injured in an auto accident in New York City. He came back from all three losses. It took time but he came back to wealth, health and finally at the age of 65 the leadership of Great Britain in its darkest days in May 1940, the first year of World War II.
For a ten year period, 1930-1940, he was the lone voice in the British Parliament arguing for a rearmament of Britain and fierce opposition to Hitler's rise to power in Germany. He could not get the British or American national leaders to listen to him or stop the Nazi threat. World War II could have been avoided and tens of millions of lives saved, if his wise vision had been shared before the outbreak of war in September 1939.
Greatness is the only way to describe this man. Keep him in mind as a mentor.
Voltaire
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