The price of freedom

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_said_eternal_vigilance_is_the_price_of_freedom#ixzz2BabFpKyK

•  "The battle for freedom is never won, and is never lost. The battle for freedom always continues. It is never too late, and it is never soon enough, to defend freedom. No matter how enslaved we are, we always have hope. No matter how free we are we are never safe. NOTHING EVER LIMITS THE GOVERNMENT, EXCEPT THE PEOPLE. Any generation that fails to defend freedom will lose it. The next generation will have to shed blood to gain it back" ~ John Perna 

• When the defense of liberty becomes a crime, tyranny is already in force. At that point failure to defend liberty makes slavery a certainty. ~ John Perna

What is FREEDOM?

The following quote appeared recently in a local paper, in a section Notable & Quoutable:

I used to think freedom was freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience. But freedom is the whole life of everyone. Here is what it amounts to: you have to have the right to sow what you wish to, to make shoes or coats, to bake into bread the flour ground from the grain you have sown, and to sell it or not sell it as you wish; for the lathe operator, the steelworker, and the artist it's a matter of being able to live as you wish and work as you wish and not as they order you to. And in our country there is no freedom - not for those who write books nor for those who sow grain nor for those who make shoes.

From the novel "Forever Flowing" by Russian novelist Vasily Grossman (1970)

"Fear" by General George S Patton Jr.

I am that dreadful, blighting thing,

Like rat holes to the flood.

Like rust that gnaws the faultless blade,

Like microbes to the blood.


I know no mercy and no truth,

The young I blight, the old I slay.

Regret stalks darkly in my wake,

And ignominy dogs my way.


Sometimes, in virtuous garb I rove,

With facile talk of easier way;

Seducing where I dare not rape,

Young manhood, from it's honor's sway.


Again, in awesome guise I rush,

Stupendous, through the ranks of war,

Turning to water, with my gaze,

Hearts that, before, no foe could awe.


The maiden who has strayed from right,

To me must pay the mead of shame.

The patriot who betrays his trust,

To me must owe his tarnished name.


I spare no class, nor cult, nor creed,

My course is endless through the year.

I bow all heads and break all hearts,

All owe me homage -- I am FEAR.

http://allpoetry.com/poem/8600819-Fear-by-General_George_S_Patton_Jnr

On This Day

Who is the author of these encouraging words? Why many insightful serious thoughts are by Author Unknown? Do we have a very short memory for what is GOOD, and forever remember EVIL?

 

On This Day

On this day: fight for a principle.

Express your gratitude.

Overcome an old fear.

Take two minutes to appreciate the beauty of nature.

Tell someone you love them.

Tell them again … and again.

On this day: write a letter to someone who misses you.

Encourage a youth who has lost faith.

Keep a promise.

Forget an old grudge.

Examine your demands on others and vow to reduce them.

On this day: mend a quarrel.

Search out a forgotten friend.

Dismiss a suspicion, and replace it with trust.

                     __________________
                            ____________
                                    ____

Beauty vs. Obstacle

 

“To some people a tree is something so incredibly beautiful that it brings tears to the eyes. To others it is just a green thing that stands in the way.” ~ William Blake

Can you help the poor by destroying the rich?

"You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves." The quote on the calendar did not mention the author. 

The words intrigued me enough to search for a person who said it. Thankfully, Daily Celebrations site offers a clear answer with interesting details. There I learned that, at times, William J.H. Boetcker's quotations were erroneously credited by some to President Abraham Lincoln.

Presbyterian minister William J.H. Boetcker (1873-1962) was born in Hamburg, Germany. He lectured around the United States about the hard work and character that leads to success. 

In 1916 he published a motivational pamphlet "Ten Cannots." Not surprisingly, almost a century  later, Boetcker's wisdom is especially relevant. He also came up with "Seven National Crimes." Almost 100 years later, Boetcker's wisdom still applies. According to the Wikipedia, Rev. Boetcker was raised in Erie, Pennsylvania and ordained in Brooklyn, New York.

"He was an eloquent motivational speaker, and is often regarded today as the forerunner of such contemporary "success coaches" as Anthony Robbins." ~ Wikipedia

• You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
• You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
• You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
• You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
• You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
• You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
• You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
• You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
• You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
• And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

"Seven National Crimes."

1. I don’t think.
2. I don’t know.
3. I don’t care.
4. I am too busy.
5. I leave well enough alone.
6. I have no time to read and find out.
7. I am not interested.

"Never mind what others do. Do better than yourself, beat your own record from day to day, and you are a success."

~ William J. H. Boetcker (1873-1962)

Arthur Schopenhauer about Conformism

'We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.' ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

THE FREEMAN

"Freedom rests, and always will, on individual responsibility, individual integrity, individual effort, individual courage, and individual religious faith. It does not rest in Washington. It rests with you and me."

~ Ed Lipscomb, quoted in THE FREEMAN, 7/72.

"What together we can do for the freedom of man?"

  Q:   Why the second part of the quote is rarely, if at all, quoted?

"And so, my fellow Americans:  ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.  My fellow citizens of the World:  ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961

Conscience

I’m just his father, Elisa,  not his conscience. A man’s life ain’t worth beans except he lives up to his own conscience. I’ve got to give Josh that chance.

~ Gary Cooper as Jess Birdwell in William Wyler’s “Friendly Persuasion.”

C. S. Lewis About Liberty and Tyranny

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.  It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.  The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep…his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” ~  C. S. Lewis

Knowledge

Some students drink at the fountain of knowledge, others just gargle. ~ E. C. McKenzie

New Movie Series: "America. Her People. Her Stories."

The following excerpt is from the Dr. Gregory J.W. Urwin's commentary in the movie "The Battle of Bunker Hill" (2009, video documentary short) http://www.bunkerhilldvd.com/ .

The movie was produced and directed by Tony Malanowski, and associate producers William Chemerka and Kevin Reem." This is the first movie in movie series "America. Her People. Her Stories. -The way your children learn about the history of the United States is about to change forever."

"One of the surprising things about American Revolution is that a lot of Americans didn’t support it. But there was this special core of patriots who endured all the hardship all the dangers we associate with war, and even more so then than today, because American government was new, it was weak, it could not always pay people, people often went years without pay, troops went years without pay, very often they were short of food, there war periods when they were short of uniforms, the fact that there were enough people who stuck with it under those circumstances to beat the British, to establish independence was incredible.”

And what they were trying to overthrow was not a typical European or Byzantine tyrant, they were rebelling against the most liberal government on Earth for a cause or a series of causes that we might consider a bit esoteric today. They had to understand what is it they are risking and why, what the taxes are doing to them and what representation meant. People made tremendous sacrifices, because of what they believed in: the individual rights, the rights of the new nation.

One thing that today young people could learn from the revolution is that if you want things to get better, if you want freedom to flourish, if you want to live in a country where your rights and the rights of your neighbors are respected, you can’t leave that to anyone else, you can’t outsource that. The revolutionary generation believed in something they called public virtue. They felt that liberty will only endure if the people supported it. And you must defend your country in wartime, and in peace time keeping your eye on the government, keeping an eye on policies, voting, making sure that the best people were guiding your fortunes in the legislative and the executive and judicial branches of your government."

~ Dr. Gregory J.W. Urwin, Professor of History, Temple University

http://www.bunkerhilldvd.com/

Paul Newman as Frank Galvin in "The Verdict"

What an extraordinary movie and extraordinary performances by stellar actors! I just had to transcribe some excerpts.

Frank Galvin's opening remarks:

"Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury... it's a terrible thing to sit in judgment. So much rides on it. I know that you have thought, 'How can I be pure? How can, uh - 'How can I be... impartial without being cold? How can I be, uh...merciful and still be just I know that some of you have said prayers today...to be helped to judge correctly. Uh, we have the reputation of two men - two, um... well-respected doctors before us... and a renowned hospital. And with them we have my client... Deborah Ann Kaye who is deprived of sight... of speech... of hearing...of locomotion, of ... well, in short of everything that constitutes her life. We will prove... that she was deprived through negligence, through the negligence of these respected men..."

_____________________________________

Frank Galvin's closing remarks:

"Mr. Galvin."

"Mr. Galvin?"

"Summation?"

"Well... you know, so much of the time we're just lost. We say, 'Please, God. Tell us what is right. Tell us what is true.' I mean, there is no justice. The rich win, the poor are powerless. We become... tired of hearing people lie. And after a time, we become dead, we think of ourselves... as victims. And we become victims. We become - We become weak. We doubt ourselves. We doubt our beliefs. We doubt our institutions. And we doubt the law.

But today, you are the law. You are the law...not some book, not the lawyers... not a marble statue... or the trappings of the court. You see, those are just symbols...of our desire... to be just. Well, they are - They are, in fact, a prayer. I mean, a fervent and frightened prayer. In my religion... they say, 'Act as if ye had faith. Faith will be given to you.'  If - If we are to have faith in justice...we need only to believe in ourselves... and act with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts. "  

• American Rhetoric: Movie Speech: "The Verdict" (1982)
• No Overturning Lumet's ‘Verdict' 

TIBET to USA: “WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOUR COUNTRY, TO YOUR VALUES, TO YOUR PRINCIPLES, HOME OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BRAVE?”

Quotes from the movie: Tibet, City of the Snow Lion. 2003.

Can be watched here: http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/john-major/videos/246469

When I see beings of wicked nature oppressed by violent misdeeds and afflictions, may I hold them dear, as if I had found a rare and precious treasure. ~ The 14^th Dalai Lama

“The PLA not only suppresses its own people, but also represses the people of Tibet and we are directly subsidizing that repression. We have raised capital for the PLA on Wall-Street. Mao must be laughing in his grave.” ~ Jeff Fiedler, AFL/CIO China Labor Expert

“People ask me, what does it mean for Tibet. That’s not the question. What does it mean to your country, to your values, to your principles, home of the free and home of the brave? Stooping down to this murderous dictatorship, we just lost the confidence of its own people.” ~ Lhasang Tsering, poet, writer and independence activist, Amnye Machen Institute, Dharamsala, India.

“It is easy for Chinese to portray people who are sympathetic with Tibet as religious fanatics, as new-agers, as people who are on the fringes of popular opinion. Whereas China is big important international country and they appeal to political and economical mainstream.

~ John Major, Professor of Chinese History, then of Dartmouth College.

"Human rights is not just some wishy washy idealistic thing, it is geopolitically practical thing. (…) It means that the measure of the government trust-ability and credibility in the word arena as citizens of the world is how well they treat people who are under their own power."  ~ Robert Thurman, Ph. D.

 “I think big business is cornering market in many ways on US China policy. People who have been fighting for human rights and democracy in Tibet are up against much bigger force then they were before. In the years to come, the China lobby in this country will be so significantly tied in with Chinese government, with billions and billions and billions dollars worth of contracts that those few voices calling for democracy and human rights in that part of the world will have a hell of a time in congress making their case heard.” (2003) ~ John Aveda

• Lodi Giari, Special Envoy of the Dalai Lama to the U.S.
• Here & Now: China, Tibet & the World
• Tsering Shakya 
•  Amnye Machen Institute

 ___________________________________

• January 19, 2011 Clinton: U.S., China Must Build Cooperative Relationship

'With Chinese President Hu Jintao in Washington for a state visit, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says that while the United States must stand by its values and interests, the relationship should not be “zero-sum.” '

•  November 18, 2010 Infringements on Religious freedom Continue in Tibet: Clinton< The Tibet Post

According to the annual State Department report, in the last one year, the level of religious repression in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and other Tibetan areas remained high, especially around major religious holidays and sensitive anniversaries.

"The government remained wary of Tibetan Buddhism and the central role traditionally played by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other prominent Tibetan Buddhist leaders.

• February 21, 2009 Clinton: Chinese human rights can't interfere with other crises < CNN

"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broached the issue of human rights with Chinese leaders on Saturday, but emphasized that the global financial slump and other international crises were more pressing and immediate priorities."

"The United States will continue to press China on issues such as Tibet, Taiwan and human rights", she told reporters accompanying her.

"Successive administrations and Chinese governments have been poised back and forth on these issues, and we have to continue to press them. But our pressing on those issues can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis," she told reporters in Seoul, South Korea."

• March 15, 2008 Clinton Campaign Ducks a Simple Question About Tibet

"During the subsequent Q&A, however, Clinton's National Security Advisor, Lee Feinstein, ducked my question about the Bush Administration's decision last week to remove China from its list of human rights violators - a decision made right in the middle of escalating tensions in Tibet that have culminated in riots in Lhasa, a military crackdown on protests and media nationwide, and according to some reports, upwards of 100 deaths.

Life a Duty

"I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.
Was thy dream then a shadowy lie?
Toil on, poor heart, unceasingly;
And thou shalt find thy dream to be
A truth and noonday light to thee.          
  
Ellen Sturgis Hooper. (1816–1841), American poet

"The Optimist Creed" - by Christian D. Larson

"Promise Yourself
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.
To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.
To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you."

Christian D. Larson  Influential early New Thought leader

Folklore – Wisdom for Generations

Collection of Links

• Patarlės, priežodžiai - Patarles.lt  http://www.patarles.lt/  Proverbs and Sayings (in Lithuanian).
•  

Courage

"Courage is not

the towering oak

that sees storms

come and go;

it is the fragile blossom

that opens in the snow." 

- Alice Mackenzie Swaim

About the Circumstances

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are.
I don't believe in circumstances.
The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."

George Bernard Shaw, "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1893) act II Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950)