Excerpt of "Citizenship In A Republic"

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride of slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who "but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier."

Theodore Roosevelt, April 23, 1910

Career Advice

Apply now for the LAPD! Never are there enough police officers to patrol the good streets of Los Angeles, making sure the neighborhoods are safe. Oh, and don't forget the ludicrous amounts of money you can make on the side! All the denizens of the precinct are always willing to shell out a bit of "protection" money to keep their activities discreet. What cop couldn't use a little extra? Do you really want your kids to go to just some state school? Of course not! Only the best for the next generation. Sign up today! Hope you all have your high school diplomas, because that's all you'll need. Even better, they start paying you the day you enter the academy.

LAPD

65 Years Later...

Today is December 7th, 2006, the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. To this day, it remains the most devastating attack on American soil. Let us pause for a moment today to remember those who perished that day and during the ensuing war.

"Higher" Education

College is not all it's cracked up to be, folks. Really, after being at UC Davis for over a month now, it's quite obvious that college is nothing but high school with more drinking and more drugs but less studying and no parents. True, there are exceptions to this generality. However, a majority of the people I've seen devote their time to "all play and no work".

Honestly, why have we come to college? Are we not here first and foremost to learn, to educate ourselves for future careers? Of course recreation is an important part of any person's life, but it simply seems that many of the students I encounter place very little weight on their schoolwork. What a pity.

I look forward to Christmas break.

Recovery

Acceptance is the first step to recovery. Acceptance of the event that has occured, acceptance of human nature, acceptance of the obvious. Few happenings could ever seem more influential than a series of events that has transpired, but they should be taken at face value for what they truly are: nothing more than occurences and the past, rather than depression to dwell over. Life is not about micromanagement; the big picture is the most important, what happens in the long run and how to predict and prevent the past from repeating itself instead of brooding on what "could have been done" earlier.

Now run along and go buy all of John Legend's albums.