Curtis Dahlgren
Stop continental drift and group-think, please!
By Curtis Dahlgren
"Souls are not saved in bundles . . . Simple and terrible laws . . pervade and govern every atom in Nature . . . This is he men miscall Fate, treading dark ways, arriving late. But ever coming in time to crown The Truth and hurl wrongdoers down." – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1860
"We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants." – General Omar Bradley, mid-1900s
"We have rediscovered the preciousness of freedom, its importance to the cause of peace and to restoring to humanity the dignity to which it is entitled . . This belief in human dignity suggests the eternal truth upon which democracy is based – a belief that human beings are not just another part of the material universe, not just mere bundles of atoms. We believe in another dimension – a spiritual side to man . . that inalienable rights come from One greater than ourselves." – Pres. Reagan, 1985
CONTINENTAL DRIFT has nothing to do with this column, except as it relates to science and the relation of that to our "divisive" society. Conservatives focus on the practical; liberals on the abstract (the more abstract, the "Higher" the education). Traditionalists focus on the factual, the mathematically logical (the hard sciences); the "kinder, gentler" Progressives on the emotional, the soft sciences. Despite that, the "forward looking" Leftists claim that they are for science and the moss-backed "right wingers" are against science! HA!
Even back in his time, Thomas Jefferson was aware of the ATOM, and he spoke of the atom when he wrote to John Adams about his faith in intelligent Design. He said he saw evidence of a Creator "in every atom" of the universe. So much for the so-called "backward" Founders, as described by the history revisionists who would divide us. Jefferson also said:
"[E]very difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."
You don't have to read my column to find great quotations, but I like to put them in a certain "order." WELL, as the Gipper would say, I'm trying to write shorter columns, but what follows is an excerpt from my New Year's column, 2013. Let's call it a "new year" starting July 4th, America's birthday. Here goes:
'Tis well an Old Age is out,
And time to begin a New.
- John Dreyden (1700)
Ring out the old, ring in the new . .
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the feud of rich and poor.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife
Ring in the nobler modes of life . .
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right . . .
-Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)
"SHALLOW MEN BELIEVE IN LUCK, BELIEVE IN CIRCUMSTANCES . . . STRONG MEN BELIEVE IN CAUSE AND EFFECT."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Notice how great writers of olden times often agreed with each other. In these "modern" times – the cool age – it's more hip to be shallow than deep. Group-think, in other words. Anyone who dares to disagree with the academy's "approved" opinion, and says so, is now called the "divisive" one.
The bottom line is you sow, you reap, and that goes for nations, too. If you ask me if I expect the year to get better, I would say: "That depends." Someone once said,"Don't expect roses if you sow nothing but thorns."
P.S. One more for good measure?
Judge o' the nations, spare us yet.
Lest we forget – lest we forget.
- Rudyard Kipling (1897)
© Curtis Dahlgren
June 27, 2018
"Souls are not saved in bundles . . . Simple and terrible laws . . pervade and govern every atom in Nature . . . This is he men miscall Fate, treading dark ways, arriving late. But ever coming in time to crown The Truth and hurl wrongdoers down." – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1860
"We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants." – General Omar Bradley, mid-1900s
"We have rediscovered the preciousness of freedom, its importance to the cause of peace and to restoring to humanity the dignity to which it is entitled . . This belief in human dignity suggests the eternal truth upon which democracy is based – a belief that human beings are not just another part of the material universe, not just mere bundles of atoms. We believe in another dimension – a spiritual side to man . . that inalienable rights come from One greater than ourselves." – Pres. Reagan, 1985
CONTINENTAL DRIFT has nothing to do with this column, except as it relates to science and the relation of that to our "divisive" society. Conservatives focus on the practical; liberals on the abstract (the more abstract, the "Higher" the education). Traditionalists focus on the factual, the mathematically logical (the hard sciences); the "kinder, gentler" Progressives on the emotional, the soft sciences. Despite that, the "forward looking" Leftists claim that they are for science and the moss-backed "right wingers" are against science! HA!
Even back in his time, Thomas Jefferson was aware of the ATOM, and he spoke of the atom when he wrote to John Adams about his faith in intelligent Design. He said he saw evidence of a Creator "in every atom" of the universe. So much for the so-called "backward" Founders, as described by the history revisionists who would divide us. Jefferson also said:
"[E]very difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."
You don't have to read my column to find great quotations, but I like to put them in a certain "order." WELL, as the Gipper would say, I'm trying to write shorter columns, but what follows is an excerpt from my New Year's column, 2013. Let's call it a "new year" starting July 4th, America's birthday. Here goes:
'Tis well an Old Age is out,
And time to begin a New.
- John Dreyden (1700)
Ring out the old, ring in the new . .
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the feud of rich and poor.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife
Ring in the nobler modes of life . .
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right . . .
-Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)
"SHALLOW MEN BELIEVE IN LUCK, BELIEVE IN CIRCUMSTANCES . . . STRONG MEN BELIEVE IN CAUSE AND EFFECT."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Notice how great writers of olden times often agreed with each other. In these "modern" times – the cool age – it's more hip to be shallow than deep. Group-think, in other words. Anyone who dares to disagree with the academy's "approved" opinion, and says so, is now called the "divisive" one.
The bottom line is you sow, you reap, and that goes for nations, too. If you ask me if I expect the year to get better, I would say: "That depends." Someone once said,"Don't expect roses if you sow nothing but thorns."
P.S. One more for good measure?
Judge o' the nations, spare us yet.
Lest we forget – lest we forget.
- Rudyard Kipling (1897)
© Curtis Dahlgren
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