Awake, thou wintry earth - Fling off thy sadness! Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth Your ancient gladness! ~ Thomas Blackburn I am bewitched by the transformative spirit of spring this year and cannot help but behold the changes I see at every turn with reverence and delight. The seasonal metamorphoses in the natural world - …
Tag: humanity
Polished to Perfection
"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials." - Seneca While I am not so sure that our trials in life are deliberately imposed upon us as a test of our character or will intentionally by another being or entity, I have witnessed time and time again that the mechanism …
A Fundamental Shift in Values
Speaking of the need of a fundamental shift in values, I read an interesting article in the NY Times yesterday afternoon entitled: “The Modesty Manifesto.” The author, David Brooks, observed that we are an overconfident species, especially the part of humanity now living in the United States. Brooks (somewhat tongue in cheek I expect) noted …
Dominion versus Domination
Whether you believe that man was created to have dominion over the earth or that he evolved to dominate the food chain through a process of natural selection, it is in man's best interest to exercise control in a way that promotes balance, sustainability and prosperity. Being at the top of the food chain has …
What is education?
"The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life." ~ Plato The transition into the 20th century was a watershed event for both medicine and education. Over the course of a few decades, medical education and the system of primary and secondary education employed in our nation relinquished their classical …
The Slide and the Quicksand
"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has." ~ Epictetus No matter how much you accumulate in life, you will always have less than what you don't have. Whether you long for material possessions, power, influence or insider status, at …
A Fund of Wisdom, Integrity and Humanity
“I am persuaded there is among the mass of our people a fund of wisdom, integrity, and humanity which will preserve their happiness in a tolerable measure” ~ John Adams I wonder what John Adams would think of the current state of the fund of wisdom, integrity and humanity bequeathed to us many generations ago? …
What Makes Life Worth Living?
One of the most exciting academic advances of our current era comes to us from the field of psychology. I was reading the monthly magazine published by the College of Literature, Science and the Arts of my alma mater, the University of Michigan, and I was surprised to see an article entitled "The Science of …
Train of Thought
"Don't let yesterday use up too much of today." ~ Will Rogers It was getting late and the conversations in German, French, English and Spanish were starting to wear on my already tired brain. The year was 1993 and I had just completed a bicycle tour around Bavaria with a friend of mine, Charlie (the …
On the importance of being detial-oriented.
I bumped into an old friend at the supermarket today and it occurred to me how important it is to answer when opportunity knocks. This particular friend was one that I had not seen in several years and while we were not particularly close, our shared sense of purpose unified us in ways that transcends …
Continue reading On the importance of being detial-oriented.
Gregory Hake 