I do not believe I was ever required to read Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If.” Perhaps better known for his books Kim, Captains Courageous, Gunga Din, The Man Who Would Be King and The Jungle Book among others, Kipling penned “If” in 1895. I first read the poem on a rainy afternoon in the ’60’s sitting …
Category Archives: Heroes
Henry David Thoreau: Concerning Civil Disobedience
Amid the tsunami of political rhetoric that threatens to annihilate us all, my mind forever returns to Henry David Thoreau. We have so much government and so many laws they we can no longer do the right thing. We are merely forced to do whatever the majority – if it is even possible to define …
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Si’ahl and Non-violence
The Dawes Act and subsequent legislation may have benefitted white settlers, but it provided the framework that reduced many proud Native American tribes and their holy traditions to poverty and disrespect. In honor of Si’ahl’s stand on non-violence, tVM is proud to print the ‘Prayer to the Four Directions’ attributed to Chief Seattle with the …
Etty Hillesum, March 9, 1941
On March 12, 1941, Etty Hillesum wrote in her diary, “‘Melodious rolls the world from God’s right hand.’ This line by Vewey was stuck in my head all day. I too wanted to roll melodiously out of God’s hand.” Me, too! I want to join Etty Hillesum in her quest! We all can, and it …
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In August 2011, we posted an item that featured Dr. Martin Luther King. As we observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day today in his honor, I wanted to re-post an important part of the original item from August 2011 that emphasizes each man’s obligation to act now and do the right thing. I do not …
Clarence Oddbody on Each Man’s Life
As Tom Shadyac professes in his film “I AM:” we are all connected. Each person on this planet is connected to every other man, woman and child, and it goes deeper still … all of creation is connected. Our connectivity mandates that we make good choices because even the least of our actions affects the …
Felix Lucero, 1895 – 1951
If 1% of people who read this post have a clue of whom Felix Lucero is, I will be shocked, pleasantly shocked, but shocked nonetheless. Mr. Lucero is as good an example as there is of a man who gave back to life more than it gave to him, and he performed quite extraordinary deeds …
Anne Frank, June 12, 1929 – early March 1945
Earlier this week, a tVM subscriber pointed me to the official website of Tom Shadyac’s film “I Am.” How or when I will see it, I don’t know, but I WILL see it. The trailer grabbed my guts and the final statement struck with power: “We started by asking ‘What’s wrong with the world,’ and …
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Luz Long, Silver Medalist, Berlin 1936
In 1967, the guest speaker at the annual athletic awards banquet at the United States Air Force Academy was Jesse Owens, the great American Olympian whose four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics spoiled Adolf Hitler’s planned Aryan showcase. I was 18-years old and felt very special and very humble as I looked to the …