Quick Thoughts: Ten Codas
/By Don Varyu
Jan 2023
ith this issue, the Cascade Review turns 21—21 quarterly publications, that is.
Each has concluded with a “Coda”—a short observation or quote or something similar. A sampling of ten is reposted below. Maybe they’ll help spark some start-of-the year thinking or action.
The strong can overpower the good.
There is no incentive for the strong to be good.
Therefore, the good must be equally strong.
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Description is not prescription.
Too many people waste time lamenting problems.
Pay attention to those who propose solutions.
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Every person is entitled to a set of beliefs.
Every belief can be tested against reality and rationality to determine if it is a fact.
Any society or government can decide to live under a common set of beliefs.
However, if those beliefs are underpinned by facts, that government or society will ultimately fail.
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In the fevered pursuit of ‘change’, we frequently disregard the possibility of ‘change for the worse’.
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The life force of humanity is properly nurturing young people.
Everything else is secondary.
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“…were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
--Thomas Jefferson
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What you think, many other people are thinking.
What you feel, many other people are feeling.
What you say, many other people are saying.
What you do is the only thing that will make a difference.
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People who entrust their hopes and dreams to any god or any man are surrendering.
Make those things happen yourself.
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“If you would recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.”
--Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
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Bird upon a Roman wall
Sees these ruins best of all.
Warning with each screech and call,
“Empires rise…and empires fall.”
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