“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” -- Robert A. Heinlein
Remember the old slogan "an army of one"?
If you'll excuse me, I have some practicing to do. ;-)
It was an okay list, but I remember hardly any of it an hour after reading it. It just wasn't arranged in a discernible logical order that made it really pop.
I imagined that it could be rephrased as:
"Be motivated by love rather than fear."
"Act more on your love for others than your desire to be loved."
"Love is helping others to achieve freedom and self-determination."
Whether or not those positive injunctions encompasses and explicates the list of prohibitions I can't really remember, I think it's probably more memorable, and more widely applicable.
Chiu ChunLing, I usually agree closely with everything you write here, but, while your stylistic critique may have merit, and your offering more eloquent, your alternative does not begin to cover the specifics of the original.
Folks have been urged to act out of "love" time out of mind. That has proven too vague and/or malleable to avail much.
The present author in question has, however inelegantly or awkwardly, spelled it out bluntly, so as not to be missed or obfuscated. And it is unquestionably a message that many men of all ages in "The West" desperately need to hear and heed.
I suppose. But I've read it a few times and the only particulars I can remember is the selfies and the thirty day challenge...ah well, my mind has some peculiarities, so nobody should feel like what doesn't work for me can't work for them.
7 comments:
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” -- Robert A. Heinlein
Remember the old slogan "an army of one"?
If you'll excuse me, I have some practicing to do. ;-)
It was an okay list, but I remember hardly any of it an hour after reading it. It just wasn't arranged in a discernible logical order that made it really pop.
I imagined that it could be rephrased as:
"Be motivated by love rather than fear."
"Act more on your love for others than your desire to be loved."
"Love is helping others to achieve freedom and self-determination."
Whether or not those positive injunctions encompasses and explicates the list of prohibitions I can't really remember, I think it's probably more memorable, and more widely applicable.
Domino and I don't do any of those things. In her case, it's understandable. She doesn't have thumbs.
Bill and Domino
III
Spot on! Love Chad, he's the Man! Literally.
Noble thoughts but trashy writing. Hate that I wasted my time there.
If you're offended... maybe he's talking to you.
Chiu ChunLing, I usually agree closely with everything you write here, but, while your stylistic critique may have merit, and your offering more eloquent, your alternative does not begin to cover the specifics of the original.
Folks have been urged to act out of "love" time out of mind. That has proven too vague and/or malleable to avail much.
The present author in question has, however inelegantly or awkwardly, spelled it out bluntly, so as not to be missed or obfuscated. And it is unquestionably a message that many men of all ages in "The West" desperately need to hear and heed.
I suppose. But I've read it a few times and the only particulars I can remember is the selfies and the thirty day challenge...ah well, my mind has some peculiarities, so nobody should feel like what doesn't work for me can't work for them.
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