Monday, May 31, 2010

"The sands are numbered that make up my life: Here I must stay and here my life must end" (Henry VI)

.....It matters not how long we live, but how we live. And it’s the “how” that evokes the struggle, and it’s the struggle that must be met with unmitigated courage. Life is awesome; it’s like the ball in a roulette wheel; the wheel is a spinning planet, and the ball is you, and wherever the ball stops demands your undivided attention, for the wheel will turn many more times, and the ball stops in many more places, and they are either winning slots or losing ones, and how you deal with them decides your fate. You are free to choose your way in life and how you live it. If you are thoughtful and careful and mindful, you may be fortunate enough to choose wisely enough to win, more often than not, and to be able to deal with the losing slots courageously.

…..At one time in my life I chose to go off to war; I survived and I learned. And following this war, I was alone, and so I chose a mate; and the fact that human lives miraculously evolved from that union is fascinating to contemplate. I and the girl I married are the cause--the source, if you will--of eight little beings who enjoyed no existence at all (that we know of) 63 years ago. Now, there is a philosophical and metaphysical matter to ponder and to wonder about! And now that they do exist, as adults, I wonder if they appreciate their lives—and the parents who bear the responsibility for them and their own children. Strangely enough, it was not very arty or technical, but an extremely simple and enjoyable procedure requiring very little skill to conceive them. In fact, their mother and I could have created many more if our religion and our inclination was different—but we thought the first four who came--from wherever they were before--was sufficient for us. Since then, our offspring have brought us joy and pride. Luckily, I’m fortunate that the roulette wheel stopped in the winning places four times.

…..Happily, the wheel did not stop turning with our sons and daughters, for they created their own joys—for us, called “grandchildren”. Why they are called “grand” baffles me; it could become a kind of dangerous hubris. But, to continue with this strange eventful dissertation on the mysteries of life, at least some of my own genes have been passed on to them—Now, there are four more that exist as well as the “originals” making a total of eight who did not exist 63 years ago, and so I have become a family patriarch and my (ex) wife a matriarch. These positions are full of wonder.

….. The motivation for this strange, eventful blog are e-mails I received from two of the “originals” regarding the Grand Children. One of them, Sean, graduated on May 21 from the California School of the Arts with a BFA degree. Even before he went to this prestigious school, his paintings were shown professionally. His cousin, Katrina, is now a Petty Officer in the United States Navy, (as was her Grand Father) and two of her cousins have their own achievements to add to the resumes of their lives which also occurred on May 21st.

It was announced today by the DC Water & Sewage Authority that Adam is the co-winner of their nation-wide graphic arts contest for a new logo. Along with a cash prize, Adam will be honored at a public ceremony to be held 15 June to unveil the new rebranding design. The image cannot be revealed until the ceremony.

…..And Adam’s sister:

Hannah has been selected to exhibit her artwork at the Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art this July. She was informed today that her selection includes a grant that will cover all shipping costs to Moscow. This is significant, since her work, which weighs over 75 pounds would cost about $1,000 to ship via FedEx. The grant might also cover her travel expenses to Moscow, but she won't find out all those details until she arrives.

…..Is it not amazing that the Roulette ball fell in winning slots for both Adam and Hannah and Sean on the exact same day, May 21? Life is awesome; living it is an adventure—and a gamble. Bet wisely. (Check out yesterday's blog if you missed it)

Sunday, May 30, 2010

MEMORIAL DAY 2010 Sileo in Pacis

…..Tomorrow is Memorial Day--not always known as such. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans' organization, Gen. John Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the tombs of Union Soldiers were decorated in remembrance of their sacrifices.

…..The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882 and was declared the official name by Federal law in 1967. On June 28, 1968, the United States Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved three holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May.

…..Many people observe this holiday by visiting cemeteries and memorials. The VFW traditionally places flags on soldiers’ graves, and the day is also commemorated by picnics and barbecues, family gatherings, and sporting events. Unfortunately, five of my crewmates from WWII, and three of our officers will not be with us to experience all the joys of living, and I will commemorate my bonds with them on this day by publishing their names and their rates for all to know and to honor:

Howard Lee, Aviation Machinery Mate 1C (AMM1C), John Shekitka,

AMM2C, Donald Fraser, AMM2C, Paul Gordon, Aviation Ordnance Mate,

(AOM2C), Norman England, AOM2C, Al Noehren, Lt., (Pilot), John

Egan, Lt. JG, (Navigator), Leo Brougham, Lt. JG, (Co-Pilot).

.....Fortunately, two of us are still around to tell our stories-- but rather old: Hal Mack, Aviation Radioman, 1C, (ARM1C), and myself, Red Baron, (ARM2C). I don’t know what there is about “radiomen” that allows them to survive, but I’m not about to question it. I also don’t really know if these rates are still in use today, but they served us well in WWII—it allowed us to know what everyone’s job was—besides manning the guns on the B24 Liberator that we flew.

.....Now, in Abraham Lincoln’s words, it is altogether fitting and proper to conclude this blog with the immortal speech that he gave at Gettysburg on Thursday, Nov.19,1863 at Soldiers’ National Cemetery to honor those who died in the horrific Civil War. I know that whenever I read this speech a chill runs down my spine. Read it; perhaps you might experience a little tear or two. (I have colored the text “blue-gray” for obvious reasons.)

…..”Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Jewish Hall of Famers

.....Yes, I know I said I'd be back on Memorial Day, but I couldn't help doing this short one on famous Jewish athletes. Some of you may not remember a few on my list. If your favorite is missing, enter him/her in a comment. I will have a good one for you on Memorial Day. Stay put.

Baseball: Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax, Al Rosen, Willie Mays

Basketball: Dolph Shayes, Art Heyman, Red Holtzman, Michael Jordan

Boxing: Benny Leonard, Barney Ross, Max Baer

Ice Skating: Sarah Hughes

Football: Marshall Goldberg, Sid Luckman, Dan Marino

Golf: Amy Alcott, Red Baron Ross

Soccer: Shep Messing, Pele, Joel Ross, Bobby Ross

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Spring Break

Please excuse me. I need to take a hiatus from blogging. I will return on Memorial Day. Be here! Meanwhile, I will be at my Baronesque on Grande Baronisle.

Best wishes, Red Baron

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Baruch de Spinoza, Philosopher

.....As promised, I am publishing the excommunication of Baruch Spinoza. I had hoped to write a novel or a play about the life of this man, but I'm 86 and frankly, I don't have the energy to do the research which would be required to do justice to him. Perhaps in my next life. Who knows, I may come back as another Shakespeare. We do have one thing in common, at least--we both sired twins.

.....Baruch Spinoza was born in 1632 in Amsterdam. He was the middle son in a prominent family of moderate means in Amsterdam's Portuguese-Jewish community. As a boy—known to his fellow Portuguese as Bento—he had undoubtedly been one of the star pupils in the congregation's Talmud Torah school. He was intellectually gifted, and this could not have gone unremarked by the congregation's rabbis. It is possible that Spinoza, as he made progress through his studies, was being groomed for a career as a rabbi. But he never made it into the upper levels of the curriculum, those which included advanced study of Talmud. At the age of seventeen, he was forced to cut short his formal studies to help run the family's importing business.

.....And then, on July 27, 1656, Spinoza was issued the harshest writ of cherem, or excommunication, ever pronounced by the Sephardic community of Amsterdam; it was never rescinded. We do not know for certain what Spinoza's “monstrous deeds” and “abominable heresies” were alleged to have been, but an educated guess comes quite easy. No doubt he was giving utterance to just those ideas that would soon appear in his philosophical treatises. In those works, Spinoza denies the immortality of the soul; strongly rejects the notion of a providential God—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and claims that the Law was neither literally given by God nor any longer binding on Jews. Can there be any mystery as to why one of history's boldest and most radical thinkers was sanctioned by an orthodox Jewish community?

....Excommunication of Spinoza

The Gentlemen of the Ma'amad [ruling council] make known to you, that having for some time known of the evil opinions and works of Baruch de Espinoza, they have endeavored by various ways and promises to draw him back from his evil ways; and not being able to remedy him, but on the contrary, receiving every day more news about the horrible heresies he practiced and taught, and the awful deeds he performed, and having of this many reliable testimonies, all given in the presence of the said Espinoza, which convinced them; and all this having been examined in the presence of the Hahamim Gentleman [rabbis], they resolved with the latter's consent that the said Espinoza be put to the herem [ban] and banished from the nation of Israel, as indeed they proclaim the following heremon him:

"By decree of the angels and by the command of the holy men, we excommunicate, expel, curse and damn Baruch de Espinoza, with the consent of God, Blessed be He, and with the consent of the entire holy congregation, and in front of these holy scrolls with the 613 precepts which are written therein; cursing him with the excommunication with which Joshua banned Jericho and with the curse which Elisha cursed the boys and with all the castigations which are written in the Book of the Law. Cursed be he by day and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lies down and cursed be he when he rises up. Cursed be he when he goes out and cursed be he when he comes in. The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law. But you that cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. We warn that none may contact him orally or in writing, nor do him any favor, nor stay under the same roof with him nor within four cubits in his vicinity; nor shall he read any treatise composed or written by him."

.....Now see that you obey that dictum--or else.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Nixon and Israel

THIRTY SEVEN YEARS AGO NIXON SAVED ISRAEL BUT GOT NO CREDIT (by Jason Moaz)

(I read this article today on the internet, but I do not know the source--only the author. I thought this is too interesting not to print on my blog)

Precise details of what transpired in Washington during the first week of the Yom Kippur War, launched by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973, are hard to come by, in no small measure owing to conflicting accounts given by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger regarding their respective roles. What is clear, from the preponderance of information provided by those directly involved in the unfolding events, is that President Richard Nixon — overriding inter-administration objections and bureaucratic inertia — implemented a breathtaking transfer of arms, code-named Operation Nickel Grass, that over a four-week period involved hundreds of jumbo U.S. military aircraft delivering more than 22,000 tons of armaments.


This was accomplished, noted Walter J. Boyne in an article in the December 1998 issue of
Air Force Magazine, while “Washington was in the throes of not only post-Vietnam moralizing on Capitol Hill but also the agony of Watergate. . . . Four days into the war,Washington was blindsided again by another political disaster -- the forced resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew.” “Both Kissinger and Nixon wanted to do [the airlift],” said former CIA deputy director Vernon Walters, "but Nixon gave it the greater sense of urgency. He said, ‘You get the stuff to Israel. Now. Now.’” Boyne, in his book The Two O’Clock War, described a high-level White House meeting on October 9: As preoccupied as he was with Watergate, Nixon came straight to the point, announcing that Israel must not lose the war. He ordered that the deliveries of supplies, including aircraft, be sped up and that Israel be told that it could freely expend all of its consumables -- ammunition, spare parts, fuel, and so forth -- in the certain knowledge that these would be completely replenished by the United States without any delay.White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig concurred: As soon as the scope and pattern of Israeli battle losses emerged, Nixon ordered that all destroyed equipment be made up out of U.S. stockpiles, using the very best weapons America possessed. . . .

Whatever it takes, he told Kissinger . . . save Israel.“It was Nixon who did it,” recalled Nixon’s acting special counsel, Leonard Garment. “I was there. As [bureaucratic bickering between the State and Defense departments] was going back and forth, Nixon said, this is insane. . . . He just ordered Kissinger, “Get your ass out of here and tell those people to move.”When Schlesinger initially wanted to send just three transports to Israel because he feared anything more would alarm the Arabs and the Soviets, Nixon snapped: “We are going to get blamed just as much for three as for 300. . . . Get them in the air, now.”Haig, in his memoir Inner Circles, wrote that Nixon, frustrated with the initial delays in implementing the airlift and aware that the Soviets had begun airlifting supplies to Egypt and Syria, summoned Kissinger and Schlesinger to the Oval Office on October 12 and “banished all excuses.”The president asked Kissinger for a precise accounting of Israel’s military needs, and Kissinger proceeded to read aloud from an itemized list.“Double it,” Nixon ordered. “Now get the hell out of here and get the job done.”Later, informed of yet another delay — this one because of disagreements in the Pentagon over the type of planes to be used for the airlift — an incensed Nixon shouted at Kissinger, “[Expletive] it, use every one we have. Tell them to send everything that can fly.”Nixon acted despite threats of reprisal by Arab oil producers — indeed, the day after Nixon asked Congress for an emergency appropriation of $2.2 billion for Israel, Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal announced an embargo of oil to the U.S. — not to mention Europe's overwhelming opposition to aiding Israel. Some revisionists have taken to claiming Nixon's actions on behalf of Israel were prompted by Golda Meir, who supposedly threatened to go public with all manner of juicy political and personal information she had on the president. Another commonly cited blackmail scenario, popularized by the play Golda's Balcony, has Meir putting the squeeze on Nixon by threatening to use nuclear weapons.

But Mordechai Gazit, who at the time of the Yom Kippur War was director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office, told authors Gerald Strober and Deborah Hart Strober in
Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency: “The airlift was decided not because we asked for it. Our relations with the United States were not at a point where we could have asked for an airlift; this was beyond our imagination.” As for Meir herself, to the end of her life she referred to Nixon as "my president" and told a group of Jewish leaders in Washington shortly after the war: “For generations to come, all will be told of the miracle of the immense planes from the United States bringing in the materiel that meant life to our people.” Wrote Nixon biographer Stephen E. Ambrose: Those were momentous events in world history. Had Nixon not acted so decisively, who can say what would have happened? The Arabs probably would have recovered at least some of the territory they had lost in 1967, perhaps all of it. They might have even destroyed Israel. But whatever the might-have-beens, there is no doubt that Nixon . . . made it possible for Israel to win, at some risk to his own reputation and at great risk to the American economy.

Friday, May 7, 2010

"The pen is the tongue of the mind." (Cervantes)

.....I wonder if there is any other family in the United States or even the world who have three people who have published books. I have written my autobiography and published the book titled "Memoirs of a Tail Gunner"; my daughter published a book called "Patriot Dreams" about her husband's death by terrorists in Lebanon in 1988. Richard Higgins was a Colonel in the Marine Corps on duty there when he was captured by the Hezbollah. Robin was a Lt. Col. in the USMC when she retired; and my son, Joel, recently published his book titled "Phases of the Moon" about his experiences on a Kibbutz in Israel and also about his ventures in Panama while an agent with the CIA. So, I and two of my kids are now famous unknown authors. I wonder if we ought to get written up in Guiness's Book of Records?

.....As for me, I haven't given up publishing books. What else can I do? No more golf and no more running. I just have to practice using a cane without falling down and breaking another hip. Anyway--to continue--I have published five volumes of my blogs--really a journal about senior living in South Florida, and the books are titled, "Pater Noster in Condoland". A sixth volume, however, is called "Fires in the Heart". So all in all I have published 1519 pages of my blog called "Home of the Red Baron." That's my alter ego. Now my kids have a lot of work to catch up to their father. JR is trying; he just started up his own blog which he calls "New Under Sol". It can be read at www.newundersol.blogspot.com. It's topics are very much unlike mine! It has absolutely nothing to do with life in Florida. So try it. It will be refreshing after plowing through mine. And who knows, maybe the other two kids might write books some day. That would make the Ross family truly amazing!

.....I don't know when I will no longer have an interest in writing a blog. I always wanted to write a novel or a play, but have been at a loss for an idea. A couple of years ago I became interested in the life of Baruch de Spinoza who was excommunicated for supposed heresies by the united congregation of Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam. His synagogue, Talmud Torah, was the place where he was proclaimed on the 6th of the month of Av, 5416, July 27, 1656. For me to write a novel or a play about his life would require a good deal of research. I don't know if I still have enough motivation and stamina to accomplish this desire. Some desires in life must be forsaken.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Snow Birds Go Home ASAP

.....Now in South Florida can be seen those big rigs that carry cars. Their destination is obviously someplace north of here where the cars are delivered to the homes of our Snow Birds. For those not aware of the meaning of the term, it refers to those residents who have a home in Florida where they live in the winter and a home back North where they live in the summer. So, neat trick--they avoid the frigid weather in the winter and the searing heat in the summer. They are like the swallows that come back to Capistrano. But what about the rest of us? We who do not have two cars or two homes? We also escape the snow and ice of winter, but we swelter here in the summer. In the winter there are many days when the heaters work really well for the benefit of Florida Power & Light; and air conditioners run constantly in the summer attempting to beat the heat--especially if your apartment is on the top floor of a condo with roofs that are poorly insulated.

.....And then there are the Snow Flakes. They are the ones who are still working and so they come here for a week or a weekend whenever they can get away. The Snow Flakes are not so bad for the year-round residents, but the Snow Birds are not too welcome. They clog our roads and our restaurants and our rest rooms. We sometimes have to wait an hour to get in to a favorite eating place or a stall or a urinal. This of course is unacceptable. But what can be done about it? The solution, of course, is to have the Snow Birds make up their minds as to where they are going to live permanently. If they choose to continue their double plays, then they should be fined $5000 for causing traffic jams and populating our places of leisure. In addition the State would set up gas stations where Snow Birds must go and pay $7.49 a gallon. If they deign to go to our casinos, they should have to buy a ticket to get in. Five dollars seems about right. Of course there will be Snow Birds who are my neighbors and friends; and so that I do not lose their friendship they would be given a special passport with their picture that would exonerate them from the usual annoyances that Snow Birds commit. No point in causing ill will.

Monday, May 3, 2010

"How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world that hath such people in it." (The Tempest)

.....I found another blog that bears repeating, especially in these times. It was published many months ago--perhaps you remember it. However, it's been somewhat updated.

LIBERALISM

…..I keep wondering why people write letters to the editor of their

newspapers complaining that it is "ultra-liberal" and unfair to whom or whatever are their own choices. If they don't like the newspaper they're reading, why don't they subscribe to one more to their liking? Personally, I don't mind if the paper I read is "liberal". I find that word to be much more comforting than "conservative." When I read about Rushing Lumbago excoriating liberals and leftists on the radio, my gorge rises at it. What’s so bad about “leftists”? Sandy Koufax was a leftist pitcher and he’s in the Hall of Fame. And what’s so bad about "liberal"? For example, if your sister or mother or wife or father, etc. is icing a newly baked cake, I prefer saying, "Be a little more liberal with the chocolate, if you don't mind." That makes for the better taste of the cake rather than asking the icing person to be "conservative" with the chocolate--don't you think?


…..Another example: If you're a teacher and a student hands in a commendable essay, it would not be inappropriate if you are somewhat more liberal with your praise than if you are conservative--don't you think? In addition, as a parent, perhaps you could be a little more liberal with the keys to the car should your teenage son or daughter is in need of it or being conservative makes for tension in the family.


….. It seems to me then, that "liberal" should not be such a pejorative term as conservatives and Tea partiers make it out to be. Even the pledge of allegiance ends with "...one nation, indivisible, with liberal and justice for all". By the way, and Republicans take notice: the dictionary defines "liberal" as "generous, bountiful, not narrow in opinion or judgment." That's liberal enough for me.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

"There be some sports are painful." (The Tempest)


.....Since I was a varsity track coach in high school for 30 years, I naturally became interested in the story of Atalanta, a great runner, and Hippomenes (hip-POM-en-ez), two mortals in Greek mythology. I even wrote a poem about them—which I will get to later. Atalanta was the daughter of Iasos in Arcadia and Hippomenes was a Greek youth from Boeotia (bee-osha). It took awhile before these two met. The story goes that King Iasos was very disappointed when Atalanta was born because he expected to have a son. Consequently, he ordered her to be killed. (In Greek mythology, there is no story without someone being killed or turned into something gross at the whim of the gods). However, the slave who was to kill Atalanta became sorry for her, took her up into a mountain cave and left her there. Shortly thereafter, a she bear came along who had lost her cubs to hunters. The bear full of milk and in pain spied the baby and suckled and cared for it. However, when the bear left the cave to search for food, the hunters came along, rescued the babe, and reared her until she became a grown woman.

…..Atalanta grew up to be no ordinary woman. She was extraordinarily beautiful; so beautiful that suitors fell in love with her as soon as they saw her, but she vowed never to marry because she wished to remain a virgin and a huntress. In fact Atalanta became known as the goddess of the hunt. One day, two centaurs took it upon themselves to ravish her while she was in the forest, but when she spotted them she fired her arrows and killed them before they could touch her. At another time, a great, ferocious boar—known as the “Calydonian Boar”, terrorized the countryside, so Atalanta joined five male hunters who went out to kill the boar, but two men were killed before Atalanta was able to destroy it. To reward her feat, the son of the King of Calydon and Althea, Meleager, awarded her the skin of the boar. This angered the male hunters, uncles of Meleager, who mad with jealousy, wished to deny a female from wearing the skin. They tried to kill Meleager, but he killed them instead. Their sister, Althea, was so overwrought at what her son did that she called on Artemis to help kill him, which she did; and shortly after, Althea committed suicide. And so the world turns.

…..Atalanta had fallen in love with Meleager, and so feeling sorry for her, her father took her back and desired her to marry. However, she said she would only marry a man if he could beat her in a foot race. (Finally back to the track!). But she knew that there was no one on earth that could win a race against her. If they tried and failed, she put them to death. To her, a racing track was sacred. But one day, Hippomenes offered to attempt it and he called on Aphrodite to help him. The goddess gave him three golden apples, and during his race with her (they both ran naked)—she stayed behind him, thinking to catch him at the finish line. But he kept dropping one apple after another, and since she lost time by stooping to pick them up, she lost the race and had to marry Hippomenes. Now to the poem—don’t worry, it’s short:

See where Atalanta lies

Bathed in pools of alabaster tears

While all Boeotia wildly cheers

And raises Hippomenes

To the skies!

…..But the story goes on. One day they had sex in the temple of Zeus which so angered him that he turned them into lions, and since two lions never mate with each other, they were never able to love again.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

"It is always in season for old men to learn." (Aeschylus)

…..Last night I went to dinner with good neighbors who, when the discussion got around to the subject of tenure, they felt that no one should ever get tenure, and their opinion of it as applied in schools was malicious, vicious, virulent, rancorous, venomous, and vituperative. When I pointed out that teachers were evaluated every year, they wanted to know who did the evaluations. The answer to that is board members, their superintendent, their principal, their colleagues, their students and their parents. A new teacher teaches five classes each day, twenty five each week, one hundred each month, and one thousand classes each school year. If tenure is granted in the sixth year, that new teacher has taught five thousand classes prior to that—and the teacher is not “new” any more.

.....By that time, they ought to have gained experience and skill. If the experience has not helped them to gain skill, then they ought not to be granted tenure; otherwise they require job security, or the good teachers will gravitate elsewhere, where they don’t have to be worried about being fired, willy-nilly. My neighbors claimed that the academic world was not the real world, and they were right. The “real” world deals with “products” on the job; teachers deal with young minds. There’s a difference.

.....Spinoza was villified and excommunicated because he came up with a different idea about the soul which annoyed his teachers in the synagogue. If he were a teacher, he'd be fired. When Galileo said that the sun was the center of the universe and not the earth he was censured by the Spanish scientists and clergy and when he later defended his views he was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy," forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. If he were a teacher, he'd be fired. When Columbus declared the thought the earth was round and not flat, he was a source of amusement as a lunatic. If he were a teacher, he'd be fired. (Then where would we be). These guys should have been granted tenure and encouraged to continue to develop their ideas. But there will always be Philistines standing in the way who think they know better.