On Oratory

I hear a lot of people talk about what a great orator President Obama is. Regardless of how little I agree with his ideology, I do agree that he's a pretty good speaker. However, when I reflect upon the fact that he has an army of speechwriters and an arsenal of teleprompters, a little bit of the Barackian luster is lost.

I have been reading a book by Paul Johnson on American history. The revolutionary Patrick Henry is well known for his exclamation, "Give me liberty or give me death!", but I never knew the context of this little phrase. Use your imagination to picture this gem of theatrics:

"He proposed to the burgesses that Virginia should raise a militia and be ready to do battle. What was Virginia waiting for? Massachusetts was fighting. 'Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have?'

Then Henry got to his knees, in the posture of a manacled slave, intoning in a low and rising voice: 'Is life so dear, our peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!'

He then bent to the earth with his hands still crossed, for a few seconds, and suddenly sprang to his feet, shouting, 'GIVE ME LIBERTY!' and flung wide his arms, paused, lowered his arms, clenched his right hand as if holding a dagger at his breast, and said in sepulchral tones: 'Or give me death!'

He then beat his breast, with his hand holding the imaginary dagger. There was silence, broken by a man listening at the open window, who shouted: 'Let me be buried on this spot!' Henry had made his point."

Teleprompters make for interesting speeches, I guess, but not nearly as interesting as pretending to stab yourself.

Samwise Gamgee on Pain and Suffering

Marijke and I have been working our way through the Lord of the Rings films. Last week we finished The Two Towers and Sam's final speech made me tear up a little bit (Movies hardly EVER make me get teary-eyed):

Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam.

Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened.

But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.

Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Thoughts on Alleviating Poverty

I came across an acquaintance's post on facebook today that was a kind of protest against the supposed labor practices of a department store coming to SLO. It was a rant long on emotion and good intentions, but very short on economic understanding. One of the poster's points was something like, "Now we all know that our free market is horrible..." I kind of sighed because lately I've been really interested in helping people (Christians, especially) understand the nature of wealth and poverty, helping them to go beyond impassioned, well-sounding diatribes uncritically learned from Marxist professors or authors.

I wanted to tell this person, "Do you realize that the free market has done far more to take people out of poverty than any kind of top-down social policy or 'program'?". The solution to poverty, by it's very definition, is....WEALTH! The world has never seen a more effective system at producing wealth (aka reducing poverty) than free-market capitalism, even with its flaws. Economics is not something mysterious and fuzzy - it is rooted in empirical data and the historical record. People have tried just about everything when it comes to making economies work, so we can look back and, with reasonable certainty, be able to tell what will or will not create wealth.

One of my favorite quotes by Paul Johnson, a British historian, is applicable: "The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false."

I just finished a book by Jay Richards called "Money, Greed, and God" and it was fantastic. He gives ten points at the end of the book that summarize an excellent and thoughtful book:

The Top Ten Ways to Alleviate Poverty; or, Creating Wealth in Ten Tough Steps

1. Establish and maintain the rule of law.

2. Focus the jurisdiction of the government on maintaining the rule of law, and limit its jurisdiction over the economy and the institutions of civil society.

3. Implement a formal property system with consistent and accessible means for securing a clear title to property one owns.

4. Encourage economic freedom: Allow people to trade goods and services unencumbered by tariffs, subsidies, price controls, undue regulation, and restrictive immigration.

5. Encourage stable families and other important private institutions that mediate between the individual and the state.

6. Encourage belief in the truth that the universe is purposeful and makes sense.

7. Encourage the right cultural mores - orientation to the future and the belief that progress but not utopia is possible in this life; willingness to save and delay gratification; willingness to risk, to respect the rights and property of others, to be diligent, to be thrifty.

8. Instill a proper understanding of the nature of wealth and poverty - that wealth is created, that free trade is win-win, that risk is essential to enterprise, that trade-offs are unavoidable, that the success of others need not come at your own expense, and that you can pursue legitimate self-interest and the common good at the same time.

9. Focus on your competitive advantage rather than protecting what used to be your competitive advantage.

10. Work hard.

D-Day

It's D-Day tomorrow. Many of my peers arrogantly like to sneer at America and complain about everything wrong with her. As someone who has lived overseas for more than a couple months, I think they are utterly foolish. Instead of getting iPods or Macbooks for graduation, high school graduates should be sent off to a non-western country for six months - perhaps it would help my generation to be much more appreciative and much less narcissistic. Anyways, I'm very thankful for what America and her allies did 65 years ago on those beaches in France.

I could almost have a blog entirely about all the bizarre and interesting things that go on in my life while kicking it through the REM cycle. Last night a rainstorm woke me up and the first thing I thought was, "Is it really pouring in June?". The second thing I thought was, "Who cares?". After falling asleep again, I had a NIGHTMARE that my entire garden got eroded by rain. The night before last, I had a dream that I somehow commanded lots of Transformers. It was totally cool.

Speaking of gardens, Ben and I built a second, larger one that sits next to our driveway. Gardening is proving to be quite an interesting hobby. More than that, though, it's good for my soul and mind. As I learn to garden, parts of the Bible that I have read before take on a deeper and richer meaning. While the Bible was written for everyone everywhere at every time, it was written to ancient peoples completely dependent upon agriculture. Experiencing a small amount of sowing, pruning, and reaping in my own backyard helps me to better understand verses, like these ones I've read recently:

James 5
⁷Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. ⁸You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Isaiah 58
¹¹And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.

Jeremiah 17
⁷ "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
⁸ He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."

Habakkuk 3
¹⁷Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

Marijke and I are off to a wedding in Livermore today, then it's over to San Francisco tomorrow for an American-themed birthday party. And after that, ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN.

Possibly one of the best songs ever

For me, Toto is one of those bands that I get a deep hankering for every once in a while. I remember my parents going to a Toto concert when I was in 3rd grade and them telling me, "That guy's voice used to sound a lot better". In 3rd grade, I thought the song, "Africa" was incredible. And 16 years later, I still do.

Music Video:

Engagement: A Male's Perspective, or, How Tim and Marijke Got Their Groove Back

If I had to guess, I'd bet that most engagement blog entries are written by the woman who has been proposed to, rather than the man who has done the proposing. Last night, I did that proposing, and I will tell you the story like a bard of old.

Yesterday, I took one lovely Marijke M. Van Pelt out for a spot of English tea in Cambria. We went to a teahouse I had heard about called The Tea Cozy. It is the type of place you would normally take your grandma - one visit was enough to last me about 10 years.

A man served us tea and scones. The man pronounced "scone" in a way that rhymed with "lawn" rather than "loan". He seemed sort of prudish, and when I asked him if I could diverge from the normal menu and have only one scone instead of two, he looked down his nose at me and said, "Well, I SUPPOSE you could have one scone, but I for one can NEVER have just one." Marijke and I politely asked for just one scone each.

With our tea dranken, our scones eaten, and my brain filled with the knowledge of what a tea cozy actually is, we left Cambria.

One the way to Cambria, I pointed out a spot along the ocean that I used to surf at. I nonchalantly said, "We should stop by there on the way back south. It is really pretty." So, when we passed it again, I pulled over and we started walking through a field along a path that led to small coastal cliffs.

Here is Marijke right as we started walking, almost completely unsuspicious of the events about the transpire. What a babe:


And here she is, walking straight into the arms of DESTINY:


And then...an OMEN of impending blessing and joy! We saw a white crane standing in the path before us. It might have been an egret or heron, but I am going to assume it was a crane because the story is better that way. The crane is a bird rich in lore and mythology. According to various cultures, the crane is an omen of longevity (Korea, China, Japan, and Vietnam), wisdom (China), joy (Ancient Greece and Rome), loyalty (Medieval Europe), and contemplation (Africa). If you ask me, I'd say we are in for something good.

Mythology and lore aside, Marijke wanted me to take a picture of the beautiful white bird. I lifted my camera to take a picture, but the crane began to fly away. As I tried to take a picture of the flying bird, Marijke stood between it and the camera. In the pictures below, we see her trying to get out of the picture frame.

"Tim, no, not me! The bird, the bird!"


"TIM! THE BIRD! TAKE A PICTURE OF THE BIRD!!!!"


And here we see the crane flying away after having finally delivered her divine oracle of good will and hope.



Marijke thought that running from a crane was the most exciting thing that was going to happen to her that evening, but she was in for a WILD RIDE OF MATRIMONIAL JEWELRY!

So, we walked down to the water and I proceeded to tell Marijke how much and why I loved her. I tried to stop her at a premeditated spot, but she said, "Why are we stopping? Let's go down to the water." I had to play it off and act cool, so I said, "Uh...yeah, I don't know why we should stop. Let's keep walking."

We got down to the water's edge and, upon one knee, I did the deed. I asked Marijke to be my wife. I don't quite remember what happened right then, but Marijke promises me she actually said yes. I don't remember hearing a "yes", but I do remember lots of crying and screaming and jumping.

Crying:


Screaming:


Blinging (a picture from later that night):


After this, Marijke excitedly called a bunch of her friends and family and then we went to dinner in Morro Bay.

I'm going to have a wife. And what a wife!

Paul Johnson on History

Paul Johnson on history:

"The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false."