Boldness

"Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."  German philosopher Ghertha.

Kelsen

Los que sufren tienen memoria.   Those who've suffered have memory.

Why I love life

Por qué amo la vida? or Why I love life?   Every day for 5 minutes I love life. Why?  Because in it I see the dog that is happy to be his owner's pet, and walks behind him or her just wagging its tail and being happy to be alive.  The same thing happens when we see an elderly person walking to a store, he or she is part of life, they've grown older through time, but they are still happy to be here and alive, and just being able to walk to the store.  The same should happen with all of us who are blessed to be here and alive, and to be able to enjoy life as it is.

The University

Polymath or Renaissance Man is the same as “Homo Universalis” - translated from the Latin as “Universal Man” or “Man of the World”. A few centuries back, the universal man was one who was knowledgeable in math, science, philosophy, literature and music. Furthermore, he would be familiar with the military arts and would be athletic. In fact, the term “university” came about because it was the place where the “universal” man got his education. How universal is today’s university education? Certainly the opportunity to have a broad education is available but in today’s educational environment in America, the student tries to get the general requirements out of the way so as to focus on the requirements of his/her major. University is probably the last time to have the freedom to pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge - that's Academia, and academia is what the U.S. excels in the world for. Life after college is never simple.  There are jobs to obtain and maintain, families to raise, aging parents to care for, houses to keep up, and so on.

Taken from a writing by Deacon John Bacon. Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church. Hammond, INDIANA, USA.

Maybe Mr. President

10 days ago President Reagan admitted that although some people in this country seemed to be doing well nowadays, others were unhappy, even worried about themselves, their families and their futures  The President said that he didn't understand that fear.  He said, why, this country is A Shinning City on a Hill; and the President is right, in many ways we are A Shinning City on a Hill.  But the hard truth is that not everyone is sharing in this City's splendor and glory; a shinning city is perhaps all the President sees from the portico of the White House and the varanda of his ranch, where everyone seems to be doing well. But there is another city, there is another part to the shinning city, the part where some people can't pay their mortgages and most young people can't afford one; where students can't afford the education they need, and middleclass parents watch the dreams they hold for their children evaporate.  In this part of the city there are more poor than ever, more families in trouble, more and more people who need help but can't find it; even worse, there are elderly people who tremble in the basements of the houses there, and there are people who sleep in the city streets, in the gutter, where the glitter doesn't show; there are ghettos where thousands of young people without a job or an education give their lives away to drug dealers everyday;  there is despair Mr. President in the faces that you don't see, in the places that you don't visit in your Shinning City;  in fact, Mr. President, this is a nation... (applause),  Mr. President, you ought to know, that this nation is more A Tale of Two Cities than it is just a Shinning City on a Hill, maybe, maybe Mr. President, if you visited some more places, maybe if you went to Appalachia, where some people still live in sheds, maybe if you went to Lachahuana where thousands of unemployed steel workers wonder why we subsidise foreign steel (applause).  Maybe, maybe Mr. President, if you stopped in at a shelter in Chicago and spoke to the homeless there, maybe Mr. President, if you asked a woman who had been denied the help she needed to feed her children because you said you needed the money for a tax break for a millionaire or for a missile we could not afford to use (heavy applause), maybe Mr. Presdent, but I am affraid not, because the truth is ladies and gentlemen, this is how we were warned it would be.  President Reagan told us from the very beginning that he belived in a kind of Social Darwinism - Survival of the Fittest. Government can't do everything we were told so it should settle for taking care of the strong and hope that economic ambition and charity will do the rest.  Make the rich richer, and what falls from the table will be enough for the middle class and those who are trying desperately to work their way into the middle class (more applause).  You know, the Republicans called it trickle down when Hoover tried it, now they call it supply side, but its the same Shinning City for those relative few who are lucky enough to live in its good neighborhoods, but for the people who are exlcuded, for the people who are locked out, all they can do is stare from a distance at that City's glimmering towers.  The Republicans believe that the wagon train will not make it to the frontier unless some of the old, some the young, some of the weak are left behind by the side of the trail.  The strong, the strong they tell us, will inherit the land.  We Democrats believe in somenhting else.  We Democrats believe that we can make it all the way - with the whole family intact, and, we have more than once (very heavy applause).  Ever since Franklin Roosevelt lifted himself from his wheelchair to lift this nation from its knees, wagon train after wagon train to new frontiers of eduaction, housing, peace - the whole family aboard, constantly reaching out to extend and enlarge that famlily, lifting them up into the wagon on the way - blacks and hispanics and people of every ethnic group, and native americans;  all those struggling to build their families and claim some small share of America.  We Democrats must unite, we Democrats must unite so that the entire nation can unite, because surely the Republicans won't bring this country together, their policy is divide the nation into the lucky and the left out, into the royalty and the rubble; the Republicans are willing to treat that division as victory;  they would cut this nation in half - into those temporarily better off, and those worse off than before, and they would call that division: Recovery (heavy applause).  Now, we Democrats believe that we must be the family of America, recognizing that at the heart of the matter we are bound one to another, that the problems of a retired school teacher in Delouth are our problems, (applause) that the future of the child in Buffalo is our future, that the struggle of a disabled man in Boston to survive and live decently is our struggle, that the hunger of a woman in Little Rock is our hunger, that the failure anywhere to provide what reasonably we might to avoid pain is our failure; and I ask you now, ladies and gentleman, brothers and sisters, for the good of all us, for the love of this great nation, for the family of America, for the Love of God, please make this nation remember how futures are built.  Thank you, and God Bless You.

Keynote Address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. By Mario Cuomo, Governor of New York.

A Number in Mind

"Let's just say I have a number in mind and I haven't quite reached it yet."  Ryan Bingham, in film Up in the Air, upon explaining to his younger colleague that all he did was done in order to reach 10 million miles as a passenger; only 6 people before him had reached that number.

Habits that form Character

Forge good habits, and you'll forge a character.   (Forja buenos hábitos y forjarás un carácter).

By Benjamin Franklin

Early to bed and early to rise, and you'll be healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Philanthropy

Philanthropy is the mystical mingling of the Joyful Giver, the Artistic Asker, and the Grateful Recipient.   Taken from a speech by Dr. Carolyn Farb in 2008 on the art of philanthropy.

Some People

Some People make things happen, some people watch things happen, others wonder: What happened.    Taken from Dr. Carolyn Farb's speech at Philanthropy World Gala 2008, on the activities of philanthropists.

George Bernard Shaw

"He who can, does.  He who cannot, teaches."  George Bernard Shaw.

Final Words

On the recent film, The Book of Eli, Denzel Washington speaks the final words of the film by saying, "Dear Lord, thank you for giving me the strength to complete the task you have entrusted to me.  Thank you for guiding me straight and true through the many obstacles in my path, and for keeping me resolute when all else seemed lost.  Thank you for your protection and your many signs along the way.  Thank you for any good that I may have done, I am sorry about the bad.  Thank you for ... knowing that I have done right in my time on this Earth.  I fought the good fight.  I finished the race.  I kept the faith."

Ryan Bingham

"Anyone who ever built an Empire or a fortune sat where you are sitting now, and it is because they sat there that they were able to do so."  Ryan Bingham, upon firing people in film Up in the Air.

Athletes

"Why do kids love athletes?"  "Kids love athletes because they follow their dreams."    George Clooney, as Ryan Bingham, on film Up in the Air.

On "Any Given Sunday"

"You know, when you get old in life, things get taken from you.  I mean, that's part of life, but you only learn that, when you start losing stuff. You find out life's this game o' inches - so is football.  Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small ...  the inches we need are everywhere around us...  On this team, we fight for that inch, on this team, we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch, we claw with our fingernails for that inch.  Because we know, when we add up all those inches, that's gonna make the f... difference between winning and losing, between living and dying ...   That's football guys.  That's all it is."        -- Al Pacino in Oliver Stone's film Any Given Sunday.

We Fought the Good Fight

After running the campaign for the candidate for Governor for the State of La Paz, Mr. Einar Calderón, who did not win on the April 4, 2010 elections, I said to him, "We fought the good fight, we finished the race, we kept the faith.  We'll do better next time."   Using some of the final words by Denzel Washington on the film The Book of Eli.

I kept the faith

"I FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT.  I FINISHED THE RACE.  I KEPT THE FAITH."  From film, The Book of Eli, with Denzel Washington.

Absent For More Than a Month

The writer of this blog - The Polymath Men - has been absent since February 27 until today April 2 because he was running a political campaign that had a budget of less than $us 2,000 for a candidate for Governor and a candidate for Mayor.  The Department (State) of La Paz has more than 2 million people of which about 1,400,000 will vote this Sunday, April, 4, 2010 for its new Governor.  Its main city, La Paz, has approximately 1 million people, and the candidate for Mayor is a lady who has little chance of winning, but we'll see how they do this Sunday with the very small budget that was available for both of these candidates during this rough and tough campaign.