I spent much of my youth on the soccer field, first as a defender and then as a midfielder. While I learned many lessons during the first twenty-five years, I can say that one of the most valuable lessons I took home with me came from an English coach who taught a summer camp …
Category: Observations on Life
The Hippocratic Oath for Education
“I swear...to hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or …
Satisfying Restfulness
"Here is a country lovely and unspoiled. Here is a simple and satisfying restfulness...a place to charm the mind while nature mends nerves worn thin by living too fast and too hard. Here, in short, is peace, and play, and freedom." ~ Howard Coffin If you've ever had the good fortune to visit Sea Island …
Imagination, Purpose and Change
“All meaningful and lasting change starts first in your imagination and then works its way out. Imagination is more important than knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein It’s a little ironic to me that my company’s product line is based in part on a manufacturing method developed in the Middle Ages while at the same time we …
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!
The Canadian spirit is cautious, observant and critical where the American is assertive. ~ V.S. Pritchett I spent a number of years close to the Canadian border in Michigan as a young man and it never ceases to amaze me how different Americans are from Canadians, despite their proximity. One of my best friends and …
Freedom from Fear
Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is. ~ German Proverb No reasonable person would deny that there are dangerous elements in the world we inhabit. Whether part of the natural state or the product of having mismanaged the natural state over the ages, these perils are a regular part of everyday living. Children must …
Healthy Parts, Healthy Whole
Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body - the producers and consumers themselves. ~ Herbert Hoover Herbert Hoover's response to the Great Depression- a fiscally conservative approach that relied more on a call to confidence and …
Is Charity a Moral Failure?
I read a fascinating article in the New York Times yesterday titled "Kindness of a Stranger that Still Resonates." The article described the kind and selfless acts of a successful businessman in the depths of the Great Depression during an era where charity was seen as a moral failure. The secret philanthropist, Samuel J. Stone, …
The Antidote to Premature Aging
A friend of mine told me that she was inspired by the example of others recently to start a new hobby. The hobby she chose, rowing, met several criteria for her as it was outdoors, involved opportunities for solitude as well as social time and provided exercise without physical exertion being the central focus. …
No when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em
I read an article yesterday morning that stood out to me as being a particularly clear example of how we as a society can end up pouring good money after bad, for an apparently good reason. We are on the verge of a health crisis. I'm not speaking of health care reform, but instead of …
Gregory Hake 