Original Oil Painting by: Grandfather’s wife
Western civilization seems unfashionable in most colleges these days. “Diversity” is now the revealed truth.
Anyway, Grandfather trotted out an old college textbook of his, Readings in Western Civilization, Knoles and Snyder, J.B. Lippincott 1951, and flagged a few quotes from it. They are examples of critical thought from the past:
Temperance and courage are destroyed both by excess (of nurture) and defect (of nature), but are preserved by moderation.
— Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, ca. 900 BC
(Aristotle’s philosophy asserted a “Golden Mean” for human behavior.)
Now in all states there are three elements: One class is very rich, another very poor and a third in a mean. Democracies are safer and more permanent than oligarchies (rule by and for the rich) because they have a middle class which is more numerous and has a greater share in the government; for where is no middle class and the poor greatly exceed in number, troubles arise and the state comes to an end.
— Aristotle, The Politics
That was written about two-thousand four-hundred years ago — as was the following:
… and there is no new thing under the sun.
— Ecclesiastes 1:9
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About the Author: RD Blakeslee is an octogenarian in West Virginia who built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.
Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee Family
RD
Only papers in a drawer should contain Wisdom, Recipes, and lessons learned.
Those marble counter tops, heated air conditioned seats, 74 month car loan and 30 year mortgage. Oh and those dividend stocks that stopped paying dividends, And that big TV and sports pkg. no sports being played. Netflics everyone is on reruns now. Well lets dont reflect on that.
Of course trying to get Len to break away from the train set on this one. He may of found something in his bunker he forgot he put in there.
Universal Truths and we have time to reflect thats for sure.
Hopefully you found some nice mushrooms to go with wilted lettuce for lunch.
🙂
Because I didn’t see the apocalypse coming, I don’t even have any wilted lettuce …
🙂 🙂
My trains are still in my closet, Duke. And they are going to stay there until one of my kids leaves the nest, which may take a little longer now that we’re clearly in another depression.
Now where did I put that remote?
Lot of emailing between family, here.