THE MESSAGE:
The blog presents some thought provoking quotes authored by six men and women. Their lives were inspiring and in some cases controversial. Although history is replete with evil characters, I have concentrated on individuals who have inspired me over the course of my educational years (still going on!), my teaching career, my years in business and my retirement years spent in this wonderful country called Canada.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
He was a charismatic leader who brought a sense of fairness, equality and justice to his followers.
The word 'DREAM' is reflective of the hope that all parents, who are worthy of the term, will want the best for their children and they are consistent in their dreams that their children will develop as productive members of society.
'CHILDREN' must be nurtured and receive the benefits of proper guidance. They must learn respect and love. It is imperative for them receive a good education and the physical necessities of life. They should always be aware of consequences for their actions. In this way they have a chance to develop empathy and care for others and the message of King's dream will have a chance to be realized.
King believed that it was possible for different cultures, religions, races and mores to exist in any civilized 'NATION'. A community should be able to co-exist peacefully, while respecting and accepting the obvious differences?
He refused to accept that mankind has a common gene that forces us to be afraid of the unknown? He longed for the time when it would become a reality for human civilizations to overcome the fear and hatred that exists when differences interact?
Does anyone have the patience, experience, wisdom, empathy or grace to actually 'JUDGE' another human being?
COLOUR OF THEIR SKIN:
I think that all members of a society should be able to have preferences, likes and dislikes. Democracy is flawed in this regard by politicians, news reports and incompetent leaders. The picture is also clouded by extremist associations that preach and practice hatred, rape and murder. It is my belief that man is not as critical towards different skin colours as he is towards the anti social behaviours of different groups. Violent gang activity associated with criminal conduct, drug trafficking, illegal possession of weapons and disrespect for law and order creates dislike and eventually hatred for these offenders.
THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER
Character implies many of the concepts that MLK embodied such as peaceful demonstrations, effective leadership, intelligent decision making and wisdom to name a few. Character also is found in individuals with courage and integrity who are productive, honest, unselfish and persistent in bringing improvements to society. Women and men who take the time to help the less privileged or volunteer for community associations, sports teams and other services embody these qualities.
Eleanor Roosevelt
She became the First Lady as the wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933 and remained so until 1945. She was celebrated as the longest serving and first 'First Lady' to hold regular press conferences. Eleanor also wrote a daily newspaper column and hosted a weekly radio show. Often, if so inspired, she would disagree publicly with her president/husband's policies during his four terms in office. 
Though widely respected in her later years, Roosevelt was seen as a controversial First Lady for her outspokenness, particularly her stance on racial issues. She launched an experimental community in West Virginia, for the families of unemployed miners. This initiative was later widely regarded as a failure. Eleanor advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees.
She served as United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952. President Harry S. Truman referred to her as the "First Lady of the World" in recognition of her human rights achievements.
Her quote:
Margaret Laurence
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(1926–1987) |
In 1944, Laurence attended Winnipeg's United College, an arts and theology college associated with the University of Manitoba, that would later become the University of Winnipeg. She is one of the giants of Canadian literature. Born in Neepawa, Manitoba, Margaret Laurence graduated from United College. Her early novels were about her early experiences in Africa but the novel that made her famous, The Stone Angel, was set in a small Manitoba town very much like the one in which she grew up. Her work resonated because it presented a female perspective on contemporary life at a time when women were breaking out of traditional roles. During her undergraduate years, Margaret Laurence produced at least eighteen poems, three short stories, and a critical essay, all of which were published.
Laurence graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature in 1947.
The Stone Angel
In her best-loved novel Margaret Laurence introduces Hagar Shipley, one of the most memorable characters in Canadian fiction. Hagar is stubborn, querulous and self-reliant. At age ninety, with her life nearly behind her, she takes a bold last step towards freedom and independence. The reader meets Hagar as a young girl growing up in a black prairie town. She is revealed as a wife, in a heated relationship with a struggling farmer. Her early life portrays a domineering mother who interacts with her young son in a less than admirable manner. As an old woman, Hagar succumbs to an isolated existence, developed through a narcissistic pride and the stern virtues she has inherited from her pioneer ancestors. The novel celebrates the triumph of the spirit, and reveals Margaret Laurence at the height of her powers as a writer of extraordinary craft and profound insight into the workings of the human heart.
She was also active in promoting world peace through Project Ploughshares and was a recipient of the Order of Canada.
Project Ploughshares is a Canadian non-government organization which works to advance policies and actions to prevent war and armed violence and build peace located in the Centre for Peace Advancement at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario. Project Ploughshares has a broad and engaged constituency in Canada, which includes its nine sponsoring church denominations and a donor constituency of more than 8,000 individuals.The work of Project Ploughshares is rooted in the ethics of Christianity – namely: peace, reconciliation and justice – but Project Ploughshares grounds its research in careful analyses of facts and presents its findings in reasoned, public policy language.
Her quote:
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German 'original thinker' philosopher, cultural critic, poet, philologist, and Latin and Greek scholar. His work has exerted a profound influence on Western philosophy and modern intellectual history.
Nietzsche made reference to "the death of God," and foresaw the dissolution of traditional religion and metaphysics: (The branch of philosophy that deals with the real nature of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.) He called for a radical, naturalistic rethinking of the nature of human existence, knowledge, and morality.
Nietzsche believed that the honest human being must craft his/her own identity through self-realization and do so without relying on anything transcending that life—such as God or a soul.
Nietzsche’s philosophy contemplates the meaning of values and their significance to human existence. In the absence of any absolute values, according to Nietzsche’s worldview, the evolution of values on earth must be measured by some other means.
From time to time the values we inherit are deemed no longer significant and the continued enforcement of them serves no purpose.
From time to time the values we inherit are deemed no longer significant and the continued enforcement of them serves no purpose.
When this happens the human being must reactivate its creative, and construct new values.
Nietzsche’s political sympathies have been attributed to the historical Greek term 'aristos' which meant “the good man, the man with power.”
His quote:
After living in Macedonia for eighteen years she moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived for most of her life. In 1950 Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation which had over 4,500 sisters and was active in 133 countries in 2012. The congregation manages homes for people dying of HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis. It also provided soup kitchens, dispensaries, mobile clinics, family-counselling programmes, orphanages and schools. Members, who take the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, also profess a fourth vow: to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor"
A controversial figure during her life and after her death, Teresa was admired by many for her charitable work. She was praised and also criticized for her opposition to abortion, and for allowing poor conditions to exist in her houses for the dying.
Although she was canonized as a saint after her death, Teresa expressed grave doubts about God's existence and pain over her lack of faith:
"Where is my faith? Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness ... If there be God—please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul."
Her quote:
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus' death in 169. Marcus Aurelius was not a great legislator, but he was a devoted practitioner of the role of ombudsman. Although Marcus disliked Christians, he did not actively engage in any systematic persecution of them during his reign.
Marcus was particularly drawn to issues surrounding the law. He influenced numerous measures and judicial decisions, that cleared away harshnesses and anomalies in the civil law. He believed in improving the lot of the less-favoured victims in society—slaves, widows, minors—and in giving recognition to claims of blood relationship in the field of property succession.
In his book The Meditations, the thoughts of the philosopher-king, have been considered by many generations as one of the great books of all time. Although they were Marcus’s own thoughts, they were not original. The cosmos is a unity governed by an intelligent being, and the human soul is a part of that divine intelligence. It can, even if naked and alone, always remain pure and undefiled, amid chaos and futility. His personal nobility and dedication were beyond question. In all cases he counted the cost obsessively, but he did not shrink from paying it.
His quote:
THE LEMON:
Awarded to Hashim Ramadan Abu Qassem al-Abedi, his brother Salman Abedi, and their mother.
THE CLIP:
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