Something To Think About Archive

Poet James Russell Lowell believed that “The misfortunes that are hardest to bear are those that never come.”

Longfellow wrote: “It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.”

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said: “One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, one nation, evermore!”

Civil rights activist and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman defined “Failure” as “…just another way to learn how to do something right.”

Urban crime has run rampant in California causing many much-needed retail outlets in those same urban areas serving low income populations to close. The repeal of portions of Prop 47 will hopefully reinstate harsher penalties for theft and drug violations and will go a long way to repairing the damage caused by this ill-conceived change in prosecutorial standards.

Self-help author Diana Scharf Hunt calls “Goals” “… dreams with deadlines.”

Organizational consultant Walter Bennis defined “Leadership” as “the capacity to translate vision into reality.”

According to Dr. Norman Vincent Peale: “The trouble with most of us is that we’d rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”

Stephen Covey believed that “Seeking to understand takes consideration; seeking to be understood takes courage

It’s been noted that when you let go of your attachment to being right, suddenly your mind is more open without being hamstrung by your prior judgements.

Donald Trump’s proposal to replace the income tax with much higher tariffs to protect domestic businesses sounds like a great idea until you remember the impact Smoot-Hawley Tariff had on the economy in the 1930’s squashing free trade and worsening the Great Depression. And, while we are no fan of the current byzantine tax code that puts the vast majority of the burden squarely on 20% of all taxpayers, you have to note that tariffs raise the price of all goods dramatically shifting the proportionate tax burden to lower income households.

Concert pianist and actor Oscar Levant once observed that if you “Strip the phoney tinsel off Hollywood, you’ll find the real tinsel underneath.”

Coach Wooden said: “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”

In an essay titled “Nearing 90” editor William Maxwell wrote: “I have liked remembering almost as much as I have living.”

Amelia Earhart believed that “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.”

Aldous Huxley wrote: “The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him, the walls of his prison are invisible, and he believes himself to be free.”

We’re confused. Donald Trump signed an Executive Order banning Tik Tok in 2020. That order was overturned by the courts. Joe Biden recently signed a bipartisan law requiring the sale of Tik Tok by its Chinese owner in six months or it will be banned in the U.S. Both actions were taken because of fears that the Chinese government is using it for data mining purposes with ill intent. So, then, why do both the Biden and Trump campaigns continue to use Tik Tok? It’s puzzling.

“You don’t want to continue to do one thing and only one thing.” Says actress Lucy Liu. “You want to keep challenging yourself and if you do well at it, great, if you fall on your face, you tried.”

There are two things that many folks hate: the way things are, and change.

Ronald Regan- ‘Man is not free unless government is limited.’