Great Movements Are Not Led by Politeness (1-13-13)

“Kumbaya is not a story. ‘Why can’t we all just get along?’ is not a (news) story.” In the first half of Adult Ed on Jan. 13, Chair Roger Gilkeson led Dumbartonians in a thoughtful discussion of thisWashingon Post opinion piece on why a great, galvanizing moral argument works better than politeness in changing people’s minds. One participant described how success on the nuclear test-ban treaty came from gathering allies of all faiths. Another participant wondered aloud about Matthew 25:40*--the verse about hell and the separation of “sheep” from “goats.” “I think what’s important here isn’t avoiding hell,” she said. “It’s paying attention to the ‘least’ among us.”
 
In the second half of Adult Ed, Gilkeson paid tribute to philosopher William James (1842-1910) by distributing selected quotes from him to read aloud. Here are some of them:
--“A  sense of humor is common sense dancing”
--“ Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging-on of an incomplete task”
--“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.”
--“ To change one’s life, start immediately.”
--“Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.”
--“A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.”
--“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”
-“This life is worth living, we may say, since it is what we make it.”
--“Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.”

--By Ginny Finch