"A woman is a dish for the gods." (Antony & Cleopatra)

.....   Lately there has been a big brouhaha about Mitt Romney’s firm stance regarding the rights of women, especially, among other things, on the place that abortion plays in their lives, a right which he opposes.  I, too, oppose abortion, but I respect a woman's right to make her own decision. Washington Irving wrote that in every true woman’s heart there is “...a spark of heavenly  fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity."  I read that over several times and I have come to the same conclusion that Ashley Montague came to in his book “The Natural Superiority of Women”; that is, women are by nature, the superior sex.  In my mind there is no doubt.  It is only male scholars who have pointed to the larger male brain, skeleton height, and muscle mass as clear evidence of male superiority. As in “might makes right.” So much for the male ego, especially the Islamic one. 

            However, in spite of the overall performance of the male anatomy and physiology, Montague believes women come out on top.  Although a woman's  brain may be smaller than a man’s, it has more neurons and is more highly developed and is capable of thinking more soundly and intuitive than the male brain.  The end result is that women are more insightful with greater stamina and longevity.  Women stand the test of time; Irving got it right. Some male relation recently commented that Montague chose a girl’s name not realizing that Ashley was the true love of Scarlett in GWTW (which he probably never saw) and that it is actually a boy’s name. I checked it out on Google.  Even Shakespeare agrees, for in "Love's Labor's Lost" he concludes that "...women's...eyes sparkle still the right Promethean fire, they are the books, the arts, the academes, They show, contain, and nourish all the world."  What I am trying to say is that there are two sexes on this planet, and a woman being one of them has the right to her own body without male politicians deciding differently.

            If you stop and really think about it women work much harder than men do throughout their lives.  They bear the children, they raise the children, they diaper the children, they drive the children to soccer games, they read to children, they do the shopping, they do the cooking, they do the laundry and the folding, they make the beds, they wash the dishes, and if they are not Jewish, they do the cleaning. Because of this, God has arranged for women to have sex on their back so that they can get a little rest.

"...to follow knowledge like a sinking star, beyond the utmost bounds of human thought."

.....A few months ago I was invited to the 55th reunion of the class of 1957.  Graduates of North Shore H.S.  Fortunately for me, the party was at Atlantis here in Florida.  I suppose that was so because most, if not all, of these "students" were retirees in their 70's.  I was to be the guest of honor, and therefore a speech was appropriate.  We were picked up promptly and deposited at the reunion site at the clubhouse in Atlantis.  And after the drinking, the hugging, the kissing and finally the meal, I was called to the podium for my speech, which I would like to share with y'all.

REUNION ADDRESS—CLASS OF ‘57

…..Where’s the teleprompter, Wally?  I thought there would be a teleprompter for a 45 minute speech.  Well I suppose I have to use old fashioned paper…so this address will take no longer than 12-15 minutes.  Less if I speak fast.

….. Well boys and girls Welcome to Homeroom…You’re 30 years late…you should Get to bed a bit earlier…I’m sure most of you have not met my wife, Rhoda. (She gets up).  We married a year after I retired in 1982 & moved to Florida.  She is an amazing woman.  So here we all are…far from Sea Cliff and Glen Head and NSHS, a school for the ages…no, Wally, not for the aged…I said for the ages…. Speaking of ages,   I’ll be 88 in a couple of weeks.  People have told me I look young for 88….  In these days I’d rather be 40 and look old. What I would be interested in learning from you  this evening is in what ways did your education at North Shore impact and shape your lives…If it did.

…..When I received Ned’s email with an invitation to be a guest at your reunion I was delighted… and honored.  Amazed that finally there would be a reunion of  NSHS grads  that would meet in Florida, and… delighted that I would get to meet once again all grown up students from North Shore whom I recognized immediately tonite… by reading your name tags  But you had no name tags! So, I didn’t know who was who. I was also invited by Wally Kaufman to come loaded with words of profound wisdom. Indeed he suggested that I be “wise, profound, and funny…”a daunting challenge.  I don’t know how wise I am at this point in my life.  I’ve forgotten 3/4s of it…— Although, fortunately, I did recall enough to publish an autobiography…”Memoirs of a Tailgunner” which you can buy on Amazon. I can use the royalties. …Now I think I have started trying to be funny, and I will evaluate my success if I heard a few giggles; so wisdom will have had to wait.

….Well enough of that. Now comes the wisdom part and you can be the judge of its profundity. .….. I was 33 years old when I met your shining morning faces in class, in the hallways, or in the smoke filled bathrooms. And as the years changed… the aroma of the smoke also changed.  As you are, no doubt well aware.  Of course, for some of you I did not enjoy the pleasure of having been your teacher.  No matter, I miss teaching & I miss all of you.  High school has to be one of the most exciting and happiest time of your life…and also, perhaps, the most frustrating…and boring.  I don’t know how you could sit for 45 minutes hearing Mr. Matthews spouting Latin, or Dr. Hartman teaching something called Social Studies which probably presaged Facebook.  In high school the priority is that you get an education.  And learning is something you should be doing all your life.  The more you learn the greater the  quality of richness and joy of living .

…..Now, I suppose that when you first spied me wandering the hallways in bewilderment, trying to find my classroom in a new building, you wondered what species I claimed to belong to and what planet did I drop from. I could read the curiosity in your eyes.  Who was this guy, anyway?

…..Well when my students were well seated in class, I told them who I was, and that I was a warrior, and I made it quite clear early on that you were there for an education & that I would accept nothing less from you in that regard than ruthless personal standards of excellence, and for the most part that’s what you gave me. And I learned that precept in order to survive combat in WWII;  in war, neglect excellence at your peril;  It was Aristotle who said, We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."  When  we returned from a combat mission, we had an immediate debriefing, and each member of the crew had to stand up and tell what mistakes he had made.  The goal of any mission was flawless execution.  So if you had to write a paper, that should have been your goal as well.  I stayed the course and made my classes understand that.

”  

…..At one time some student who no doubt heard me read excerpts from Dante's "Divine Comedy" placed a sign above my doorway reading, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”. (There was some truth in that.)I demanded excellence and challenged you to provide it.  Four years passed quickly & some of you went off to college and some of you simply joined the work force or went to Viet Nam. And you raised families and had your careers.  And here you are.  As for myself, I committed myself to inspire you and mesmerize you with Chaucer, Byron, Shelley, Keats, and Shakespeare. But some of my students weren’t so much mesmerized as they were sleepy in class.

…..Now that you’re in Florida—perhaps you’re even retired; still you play golf, you play tennis, and you have card games, you go to the movies, you go to the casinos, & the theater; you hang out at the pool.  This is all good and natural and another stage in your life.  Mine too. I’m a teacher and I will never stop teaching. You can do more to enrich your life; take a hiatus from the tv and the pc—if excellence is a habit, so is learning and only the things above you can lift you up.  Florida has some excellent museums & theaters…you can learn something from them.  You can read books about historical events and about ancient pagan eras.  You can read about  WW1, WWII, the Civil and Revolutionary wars, and biographies of great men and women such as Ben Franklin, Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton our first treasurer and Helen Keller and Eleanor Roosevelt and Anne Frank.  You can read about Einstein and how he has affected science and the world.  Here in Florida as you get older, you are doing things that entertain you, but what are you doing to exercise your brain?  If Aristotle says that excellence is a habit, I say so is learning.  I have  written and published several books, I have taught Shakespeare classes to seniors. I have performed  in several musicals from Gilbert & Sullivan to Broadway classics, like Fiddler on the Roof, and My Fair Lady in our 600 seat theatre. I am not sitting around degenerating by the pool talking about restaurants, doctors, and maladies.

…..But.....Make no mistake--I am no Don Quixote tilting at windmills, nor Gulliver confronting the Yahoos; nor Sir Gawain seeking the Green Knight, nor David confronting Goliath.  But what I am, I am--like Ulysses, who facing old age, yearned once more to explore worlds he'd never seen, and do things he had never done…this despite his reunion with his wife, Penelope, after 20 years. (Poor Penelope, I don’t think they had divorce lawyers in those days).  But as I have said, learning is a habit.  It should be for you to seek; after all you are North Shore graduates=and I consider you still in my class.

 …..Ulyssey’s goal was “To follow knowledge”…wherever it could be found. And that’s what education and life is all about. Striving, seeking, finding and never yielding to its pain and disappointments, and as Hamlet calls them-- the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” which surely will come in every human life.  Learning helps to survive anything.….. The Pierian Spring in pagan times was known as the source of knowledge, and Alexander Pope said “…a little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”  My friends it is an honor to be here and I am grateful for the opportunity to see you  once again.  Stay well. And God bless you.

.....So, there you are...my speech; I worked very hard at it; I have not had many requests to make a speech so I was a wanderer in pastures new.  I hope it even inspires some of you.  And I wish to apologize to Peter Kehrig for not adding his name to the list of those who also comment on my blog occasionally.  

"History is past politics, and politics is present history."

.....This is a political posting.  Those not interested may now leave for another environment.  I've probably lost half my readers and probably all of my commentors since my last posting, but this will allow what I want to say to get said.  President Obama has abolished the "don't ask, don't tell," policy of the armed forces.  He has also stated that he believes in gay marriages.  And, again, he has proclaimed that the children of illegal immigrants may not be deported, provided they meet certain conditions.  He also has a requirement in "Obamacare" that those without insurance must buy it.  Now, many Republican Party adherents have claimed that one or all of these laws are "unconstitutional", even though many of the claimants have never read the Constitution.  They eagerly await the rulings of the Supreme Court on Obama's Constitution "violations." 

.....The fact of the matter is that one of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln was also accused of violating or, at the least, bending the Constitution.  He, like all Presidents since Washington have taken an oath to "preserve and protect the Constitution."  But one of his first acts as President was to increase the number of men in the army by 75,000 even though the Constitution requires that only Congress has the authority to enlarge the army.  Lincoln did this while Congress was not in session and because he felt that it was a necessary proclamation if the South was to be defeated, and the Union preserved. 

.... Lincoln also revoked several civil liberties during his administration.  For example, he negated the writ of habeas corpus for the purpose of arresting anti-Unionists.  This act was in direct defiance of a Supreme Court ruling holding that the suspension of habeas corpus was unconstitutional without an act of Congress.  Lincoln also violated other constitutional liberties such as shutting down anti-Union newspapers and arresting the editors!  This and other acts requiring the consent of Congress in violation of the Constitution was proclaimed by Lincoln.  And he was a Republican.  So, why pick on Obama?

"So part we sadly in this troublous world." (Henry VI)

I have deleted the May 23 post on my blog. It had 30 comments most of which had nothing to do with the the topic, and others for for a political debate which was getting out of hand.  I love all the people who ever wrote comments on my blog whether they disagreed with me or not. I've been writing this for five years, and I never deleted any comment or any blog, but the one on the 23rd about the amendments to the Constitution with so many irrelevant and discordant comments was so discouraging that I have lost my desire to continue with this blog.  
     With much love, Baron.