Francis Bacon – “Knowledge is power.”
This quote reminds me of why I started writing for the web in the first place. I did it for the same reason I founded my site. I wanted to share useful information (knowledge) with people interested in finding it. That, in turn, empowers them to do what they need to do, and allows me to make a small contribution to their efforts. I feel good, they feel good – it’s a win-win situation, provided, of course, that they’re working toward something good.
Mark Twain – “Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”
Aristotle – “What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.”
I think he had his finger on the problem, didn’t he? Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we ought to do it. We’ve got the power of judgment, we can think for ourselves, let’s use our brains and make informed decisions. And let’s learn to say no when something doesn’t agree with our belief system. The point is to stop blindly doing things, and to reason it out for ourselves why it is we are doing something, in particular when that something will have consequences on others.
Walt Disney – “Laughter is America’s most important export.”
We’d do well to remember this nowadays. I wonder what our most important export is today. Can we put our finger on it, and if we can, is it something we’d be proud of?
“If you live to be one hundred, you’ve got it made. Very few people die past that age.” — George Burns
Raoul Pop 