blinding clarity
how vital to live in a
free society
My chance encounter with George Lincoln Burr was the greatest single thing that ever happened in my life, for he introduced me to a part of myself that I hadn’t discovered.
I saw, with blinding clarity, how vital it is for Man to live in a free society.
The experience enabled me to grow up almost overnight; it gave my thoughts and ambitions a focus.
It caused me indirectly to pursue the kind of work which eventually enabled me to earn my living.
But far more important than that, it gave me a principle of thought and of action for which I have tried to fight, and for which I shall gladly continue to fight the remainder of my life.
EB White in a Memorial Day speech at Cornell, May, 1940, reprinted in E.B. White: A Biography by Scott Elledge, (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1986).
According to Wikipedia, George Lincoln Burr (January 30, 1857 – June 27, 1938) was a US historian, diplomat, author, and educator, best known as a Professor of History and Librarian at Cornell University, and as the closest collaborator of Andrew Dickson White, the first President of Cornell.
Wikipedia sites that Mr. Burr’s battles were in the Warfare of Science with Theology.
Not like today’s war with the current administration and a free society.
The fight is still vital.
No Haiku For You 