My houseguest, Einar, happened to find in a pile of magazines, an issue of TIME I’d saved for him, the Mind and Body Special Issue: The Brain, a User’s Guide of January, 2007. Looking through it he commented that not only were some of the ideas out-of-date, the entire magazine, from typeface to illustrations to advertisements, looked as if it was not two years but two decades old—a startling example how quickly things are changing. He also found this prescient article by historian Richard Brookhiser entitled “What’s a Resume Got to Do with It?” about one Barack Obama, the then “freshest face in the early lineup of presidential candidates,” which concludes:
Statesmanship is an art, which means that there is always room for inspiration, and for grace. We are right to look for a record of pre-eminent ability when we can find it. But the basic doctrine of republican government, that all men are created equal, can be a surprise bonus for some leaders, as well as a guarantee of rights for all of us. Sometimes greatness appears in unlikely places, even in ordinary pols from Illinois.
Statesmanship is an art, which means that there is always room for inspiration, and for grace. We are right to look for a record of pre-eminent ability when we can find it. But the basic doctrine of republican government, that all men are created equal, can be a surprise bonus for some leaders, as well as a guarantee of rights for all of us. Sometimes greatness appears in unlikely places, even in ordinary pols from Illinois.
My friend, Valerye, sent me this:
2 comments:
The youtube video you posted reminds me of a book I just finished reading by Daniel Pink 'A Whole New Era: Moving From The Information Age to the Conceptual Age'. It's lightheartedly and humorously written but some of his arguments are pretty poignant. In it he discusses how the new M.B.A isn't an M.B.A. at all, but in fact, an M.F.A., and how people need different much more abstract and aesthetic skill sets to keep up with the changing world. Without trying to sound too much like I'm plugging his work, it's an interesting book to check out.
Thanks for the reminder--'A Whole New Mind,' as it is titled, is on my bookshelf and demands to be re-read in light of what's transpired in the past two years.
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