“…the citizen who thinks he sees that the commonwealth's political clothes are worn out, and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor.”
– Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
It is not enough to merely complain about failed leadership, poor governance, misguided policies, and questionable voting procedures. If we fail to engage in democracy will will surely lose it. Failing to defend the principals of democracy is an act of treason to the very idea.
To paraphrase Stalin: It is not who votes that counts, but who counts the votes.
Find out about the Holt Bill and then call your representatives in Congress:
Mark Crispin Miller: The Holt Bill is a Poison Pill
Nancy Tobi in the Online Journal: Congress about to "just say yes" to permanent secret vote counting
“Eight grown Americans out of ten dread the coming of the Fourth, with its pandemonium and its perils, and they rejoice when it is gone–if still alive.”
– Mark Twain, Following the Equator
Big brass bands, parades, hotdog eating contests… all things Americana crowd the day.
And, of course, fireworks light up the evening sky and thunder across the land from coast to coast. All attended by throngs of people compelled to be part of the celebration, even if they’re not quite sure what it is they are celebrating.
But the best time for some is in the quiet of a summer’s evening, as the echoes of the loud and boisterous festival die away, unscathed and intact. Sometimes even Americans need to sit and reflect.
“The perfection of wisdom, and the end of true philosophy is to proportion our wants to our possessions, our ambitions to our capacities, we will then be a happy and a virtuous people.”
The drive for endless economic growth, the latest, bleeding edge of technology, the push to consume, always consume; never allowed by the constant barrage of advertising to be happy with ourselves or what we have.
We are neither happy nor truly virtuous if we exist in a constant state of want while living amidst such abundance.
Is this what the American Dream has become?
“No sinner is ever saved after the first twenty minutes of a sermon”
-Mark Twain
It’s the hook, the elevator speech, the pitch.
The trick is getting right to the heart of the matter. If you can’t sell your idea in a few well chosen words, it’s a lost cause. We live in a world of short attention spans and instant gratification.
You can’t save the sinner if he isn’t listening anymore.
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“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a righly timed pause.”
While marketers have it down to a perfected science, our modern world of incessant chatter, in the age of obiquitous cell phones, instant messages, and email has overtaken, it seems, the art of comunication. The thoughtful reply to a well-crafted argument. Using the space in between the words as much as the words themselves.
To be willing to fall silent…
dude, u no what i mean? lol
“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”
-Mark Twain
And then as some twenty years and more pass, I marvel at how he even tolerated me in the first place.
Fatherhood is not an easy task, no matter how it may appear to the boy of fourteen. Too many try it that shouldn’t. When you are blessed with a good father, it is wise to be thankful. On father’s day and every other day as well.
“When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries of life disappear and life stands explained”
– From Mark Twain’s Notebook
We might watch the television news, or read a newspaper, or browse to a favorite blog and learn of the days events. Upon doing so way may mutter to ourselves, “has the world gone mad?”.
Now is the time to remember that the world has always been mad, and we are bit players in that madness. It doesn’t really change anything, but it may help us get through another day.
“The exercise of an extraordinary gift is the supremest pleasure in life”
-Mark Twain
One need not be a Mark Twain to consider themselves in possession of an extraordinary gift, though his was certainly just that.
We all come into this world with a unique and extraordinary gift. When recognized, nurtured, and pursued we can surely find satisfaction and delight; perhaps even a glimmer true happiness.
“With us no individual is born with a right to look down upon his neighbor and hold him in contempt.”
-Mark Twain, "Americans and English" speech
And in so doing we forfeit any moral authority to which we would ever hope to lay claim.
Whatever the source of contempt for another, it is not a right nor a source of pride or justification, but merely a failing of the human spirit.
A short film produced by da nuoviautori.org adapting Mark Twain’s letter written in 1901 protesting The Spanish-American War.
The full text of Twain’s letter is here.
