"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty." ~ James Madison Seeing the images and videos of the various manifestations of rebellion known as the "Arab Spring" brings me back to the year of my high school graduation, 1989, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. As each piece of …
Category: Observations on Life
Human Felicity
"Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day." ~ Benjamin Franklin What little advantages came your way yesterday? Did you take time to enumerate them at the end of the day? Did you recognize them when they happened? If …
Labor with Purpose
"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. One of my most important discoveries early in life was that doing work that uplifts humanity is more fulfilling than any other form of employment. Exactly what jobs and industries fall into that category …
Demystifying the Issues
My in-laws forwarded me an interesting article from the May 2011 edition of WSJ Magazine that featured Marc Newson, the Australian-born industrial designer and artist who was recently included in Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. Newson's work can be found in airliners, cars, restaurants, shoes, bicycles and more and his designs, …
A New Corporate Culture
"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." ~ Benjamin Franklin One of the greatest challenges I've faced while developing a more desirable corporate culture that is free of the common impediments that creep in through the less illuminated corners of human nature lies in overcoming the entropic tendency …
Accomplishment and Blessing
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." ~ Harry S. Truman Accomplishment, when relating to something done admirably or creditably, is one of a number of mechanisms by which blessing is released into the world at large. It builds self-confidence and self-esteem, especially when you achieve …
Commit to the Move
A younger friend of mine was describing the keys to advancement in the sport of wakeboarding to my brother-in-law and I and his philosophy was summarized by the brilliant statement that at a certain point you have to stop thinking and commit to the move. The idea, for instance of jumping the wake and doing …
Momentary or Momentous
Would you say that your thoughts, words and deeds are more often momentary or momentous? Are they fleeting and brief or sustainable and significant? How large is your perspective on life? Is it narrowly focused in relation to the circumstances right before your eyes or is it more expansive, with an eye for the "big …
The Seeds That You Plant
"Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out." ~ Art Linkletter Any fool can bemoan his circumstances. More noble is the man who, in every conceivable situation, makes the best of the occasion. In fact, those most remembered for their positive influence in human history …
Strenuous Liberty
Nations grown corrupt Love bondage more than liberty; Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty. ~ John Milton While touring Independence Hall in Philadelphia recently it occurred to me that the greater part of men prefer security to liberty. Most it seems are not even aware that they are making a choice. They go about their …
Gregory Hake 