Monday, September 6, 2010

William Beveridge: 1879 - 1963

"Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes,
but which no democracy can afford among its citizens."
-William Beveridge

Ignorance is often the root of much animosity in our world today. Were it not for the ignorance of the uneducated masses we would not have racism, sexism, and all the hatred that stems from overall lack of knowledge. In my travels I have stayed at many hotels and inns and I noticed a trend in each of them that is probably often overlooked. The staff is often broke up into subcultures based on their positions within the establishment. For example house cleaning sticks with house cleaning and maintenance and front desk sticks with management and booking etc. etc. These little subcultures are bound to happen but I've also noticed right along side this is that the very same positions that stick together are also often the same race. This isn't simply birds of a feather but it is blind ignorance placing a person of a certain race in a certain position solely based on that one factor. Now I am not saying this is an intentional trend it may be attributed to passive racism or some such school of thought. Now overall I believe we need to start growing as a society and beginning to overlook race, gender, and upbringing as factors in how we judge people if not for ourselves but as insurance for our children and their children to come. We need to clear this film of animosity from our lives and start living free without all the acting. We need to start taking credit for our actions and stop dealing cheap blows to others just because they are different. No, at the heart of it we are all the same, we are all men and we are all equal.  Alrighty, that's it for now. Dasme, signing off.
 

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Bob Bartlett: 1904 - 1968

"Hills are unpleasant, so I like to get them over with as quickly as possible. "
-Bob Bartlett


Today's quote speaks out to the rush of life and all the endeavors we endure throughout it. I enjoy quotes that I can relate to and I feel I've been able to do that with this piece. In my experience these hills Bartlett speaks of are most often moral challenges that we have to deal with on a day to day basis. For example today I am faced with the challenge of paying my car insurance, while I always like to pay my premium upfront six months at a time I often find that it leaves me financially short for several weeks to come. Overall I've found that it breaks even in the long run because I don't have the monthly hassle of the payment to stir up chaos in my home. I have to give credit where credit is due though, this practice has been instilled in my by my mother and father as they have always been great moral guides for me throughout my life. Well that's all for today; Dasme, signing off.