It's About Liberty: A Conservative Forum
Topics => General Board => Topic started by: gumshoe009 on April 25, 2013, 05:22:15 PM
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For the past twenty years or so I have been guided by, and have tried to live by some very inspirational words said by a sitting member of Congress who returned to Congress after a hiatus. What do you think of this expression of courage & character?
"Character cannot be summoned at the moment of crisis if it has been squandered by years of compromise and rationalization. The only testing ground for the heroic is the mundane. The only preparation for that one profound decision which can change a life, or even a nation, are those hundreds of half-conscious, self-defining, seemingly insignificant decisions made in private. Habit is the daily battleground of character."
...Senator Dan Coats
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Dayum. I thought I was going to see "ready, aim, FIRE!"
But Coats is correct, and, I'll add that character and virtue is doing the right thing even when no one is looking.
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Who, among the wretched opportunists in Washington DC, even comes close to character such a this?
I could count those who might on one or maybe two hands. And even with those, it seems that under the first hint of pressure, they wilt and reveal something far less than I had hoped.
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Dayum. I thought I was going to see "ready level, aim, FIRE!"
But Coats is correct, and, I'll add that character and virtue is doing the right thing even when no one is looking.
Fixed for historical accuracy. You didn't aim a musket, you just made sure the the barrel was level and pointed at the enemy as many troopers under the duress of combat shot high.
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Dayum. I thought I was going to see "ready level, aim, FIRE!"
But Coats is correct, and, I'll add that character and virtue is doing the right thing even when no one is looking.
Fixed for historical accuracy. You didn't aim a musket, you just made sure the the barrel was level and pointed at the enemy as many troopers under the duress of combat shot high.
Don't give a rat's about historical accuracy inasmuch as I ain't using a musket, m'kay.
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Then don't say, 'ready, aim, fire'. It gives away your position.
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Then don't say, 'ready, aim, fire'. It gives away your position.
I'll say what I please and I have no intention of giving away my position.
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I think the fundamentals are well known, just say "Fire!" OK?!
::)
No really, did someone say "fire"?! ::bustamove::
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I think the fundamentals are well known, just say "Fire!" OK?!
::)
No really, did someone say "fire"?! ::bustamove::
Don't be teasing me now, Libertas. ;)
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I think the fundamentals are well known, just say "Fire!" OK?!
::)
No really, did someone say "fire"?! ::bustamove::
Don't be teasing me now, Libertas. ;)
He thinks he's married. ::hysterical::
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Do we have to say anything? Can't we just shoot ?
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@ IDP, you are correct to some degree that Senator sets a high standard, but I don't think it is a standard that has too high a bar. When one lives each day with a high standard, it becomes habit forming and straying from that high self-standard of character becomes difficult to deviate from. Doing the right thing when nobody's looking can be very liberating and self-energizing. Those are great words to live by.
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I agree regarding people in general. But Washington DC - politics period - no longer attracts such people into service in meaningful numbers. The ones who dare are destroyed in nascency, and the few who are not destroyed are corrupted in time. Exceptions are welcome, but seem only to prove the rule.