Sen. Everett Dirksen speech: Jola Morris

Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois became known as Mr. Marigold for his repeated attempts to have the marigold designated the national floral emblem. Dirksen said:

"The marigold is ... national in character, for it grows and thrives in every one of the 50 states of this nation. ...

Its robustness reflects the hardihood and character of the generations who pioneered and built this land into a great nation. It is not temperamental about fertility. It resists its natural enemies, the insects. It is self-reliant and requires little attention. ...

It is as sprightly as the daffodil, as colorful as the rose, as resolute as the zinnia, as delicate as the carnation, as haughty as the chrysanthemum, as aggressive as the petunia, as ubiquitous as the violet, and as stately as the snapdragon."

Almost twenty years later, Congress did designate a national flower: the rose.

Winston Churchill Speech: Bruce Bartley

Speech delivered by Winston Churchill on December 8, 1944, in the House of Commons:

"... how is the word "democracy" to be interpreted? My idea of it is that the plain, humble, common man, just the ordinary man who keeps a wife and family, who goes off to fight for his country when it is in trouble, goes to the poll at the appropriate time, and puts his cross on the ballot-paper showing the candidate he wishes to be elected...-- that he is the foundation of democracy. And it is also essential to this foundation that this man or woman should do this without fear, and without any form of intimidation or victimisation. He marks his ballot-paper in strict secrecy, and then elected representatives meet and together decide what Government ... they wish to have in their country. If that is democracy I salute it. I espouse it. I would work for it...."

The Psychology of War: Jack Roderick

Here's a "think" piece about the seriousness of war. It's from Lawrence LeShan's book The Psychology of War.

"On the sixth of August, 1945, the day when the first atomic bomb was used at Hiroshima, the human race was placed on the endangered species list. War, an activity practiced by nearly all human societies as far back as we have records, was suddenly not only outmoded, but potentially race-suicidal. And make no mistake: unless there are radical changes in human understanding and behavior, we will use the atomic bomb again. Our track record shows that we have always used every new technology, from iron-smelting to radio, for military purposes. We have never yet given up any weapon available to us as long as it was effective."

The Open Road: Susan Derrera

In The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Pico Iyer writes:

"[The Dalai Lama] told me that sometimes he felt that he could never do enough, and that nothing he did could ever really affect things. . . . He told me that it was "up to us poor humans to make the effort," one step at a time, and again, as if invoking the final words of the Buddha, he spoke of "constant effort, tireless effort, pursuing clear goals with sincere effort."

Then as we were walking out of the room, he went back and turned off the light. It's such a small thing, he said, it hardly makes a difference at all. And yet nothing is lost in the doing of it, and maybe a little good can come of it, if more and more people remember this small gesture in more and more rooms."

Anne Scheiber’s Obituary: Heather Lende

From Anne Scheiber's obituary: 

'Anne Scheiber, who was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1893, ... found employment as a federal tax auditor. Throughout her 23-year career, she received superior performance reviews, but was never promoted, which she attributed to being Jewish and a woman. When she retired in 1941 with $5,000 in savings, she ... [invested] in the stock market, where religion and gender didn't matter.

Ms. Scheiber did her own research before making investments....

Upon her death in 1995 at 101, she'd accumulated a portfolio valued at $22 million, and bequeathed virtually all of it to Yeshiva University' ... to help women "who have indicated their desire to assist in the development of humanity, and alleviate pain and suffering."'

The University says, "Her memory will surely be a blessing."

How can you turn a wrong you've suffered into a blessing?