2.11.2026 – game of consequences

game of consequences
to which we all sit down, the …
hanger-back not least

Books were the proper remedy:

books of vivid human import,

forcing upon their minds the issues,

pleasures,

business,

importance

and immediacy of that life in which they stand;

books of smiling or heroic temper,

to excite or to console;

books of a large design,

shadowing the complexity of that game of consequences to which we all sit down,

the hanger-back not least.

From the article. Old Mortality by Robert Louis Stevenson in Longman’s Magazine,1884 May.

Longman’s Magazine was first published in November 1882 by C. J. Longman, publisher of Longmans, Green & Co. of London. It superseded Fraser’s Magazine (published 1830 to 1882). A total of 276 monthly issues had been published when the last number came out in October 1905.

Longman’s focused on fiction, debuting work by James Payn, Margaret Oliphant, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Edith Nesbit, Frank Anstey, Robert Louis Stevenson, H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, Walter Besant, and others.

According to the Quote Investigator, Robert Louis Stevenson (of Treasure Island fame) did say, books of a large design, shadowing the complexity of that game of consequences to which we all sit down.

Mr. Stevenson DID NOT SAY “Sooner or Later We All Sit Down To the Banquet of Consequences“.

While I like the warning of Sooner or Later We All Sit Down To the Banquet of Consequences, I really like that the original quote, books of a large design, shadowing the complexity of that game of consequences to which we all sit down includes that final bit of the hanger-back not least.

When Mr. Lincoln talked in this vein, he wrote in his 1862 message to Congress, We … will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation.

I thought of the column Republicans, you own Trump’s racist video about the Obamas where Rex Hupke said: You don’t get to express allegiance to Trump and then casually step aside when something like this happens. You own it. It is what you are supporting.

To recap:

You don’t get to express allegiance to Trump and then casually step aside when something like this happens.

You own it. It is what you are supporting.

We will be remembered in spite of ourselves.

No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us.

Sooner or later we all sit down to the banquet of consequences

That game of consequences to which we all sit down.

The hanger-back not least.

As it says in the Bible (Matthew 11:15) …

Whoever has ears, let them hear.

10.1.2025 – how we show respect

how we show respect
leave place better than found it
there’s manners involved

From the article, What does a spotless locker room have to do with success? For these coaches, everything by Rustin Dodd, (New York Times, Sept. 30, 2025), where Mr. Dodd writes:

“We always talk in our program about ‘winning the response,’” Lea said earlier this month. “There’s a respect that we have for all the things we come in contact with, and that certainly includes the spaces where we prepare for our games and execute for our games.

This photo was posted from the custodian crew at Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech saying thank you to the VISITING Vanderbilt team for leaving the locker room clean.

“There’s an appreciation, and we never want to be entitled when it comes to those things. How we show respect is we try to leave a place better than we found it.”

“Everything about our program is centered around that,” Scelfo said. “The way we do small things is the way we do all things. When you go to somebody’s house, you don’t leave it dirty. You clean it. If you finish eating, you pick up your plate. There’s manners involved.”

Hard to believe this article was written in 2025.

Look at the words and phrases used, not written by the writer, but in quoting people involved in sports today.

There’s an appreciation …

We never want to be entitled …

How we show respect …

Leave a place better than we found it …

way we do small things, way we do all things …

You don’t leave it dirty …

You clean it …

If you finish eating, you pick up your plate …

There’s manners involved …

Of course, we are talking about sports.

That such a level of expectations might exist for the political leaders in this country is asking too much, don’t you agree?

I mean, read over that list again.

Did the thought that the writer of the article in question might be writing about our leaders EVER cross your mind.

It is sad really.

It comes to mind what Ben Franklin said about George Washington.

The first man put at the helm will be a good one;

… nobody knows what sort may come afterwards.

Manners involved … indeed.

9.1.2025 – people with song mouths

people with song mouths
connecting song hearts; people
who must sing or die

For Labor Day, 2025.

Adapted from Work Gangs by Carl Sandburg as published in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg, by Carl Sandburg, Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1950.

Work Gangs

Box cars run by a mile long.
And I wonder what they say to each other
When they stop a mile long on a sidetrack.
Maybe their chatter goes:
I came from Fargo with a load of wheat up to the danger line.
I came from Omaha with a load of shorthorns and they
splintered my boards.
I came from Detroit heavy with a load of flivvers.
I carried apples from the Hood river last year and this year
bunches of bananas from Florida; they look for me with
watermelons from Mississippi next year.

Hammers and shovels of work gangs sleep in shop corners
when the dark stars come on the sky and the night watchmen
walk and look.

Then the hammer heads talk to the handles,
then the scoops of the shovels talk,
how the day’s work nicked and trimmed them,
how they swung and lifted all day,
how the hands of the work gangs smelled of hope.
In the night of the dark stars
when the curve of the sky is a work gang handle,
in the night on the mile long sidetracks,
in the night where the hammers and shovels sleep in corners,
the night watchmen stuff their pipes with dreams—
and sometimes they doze and don’t care for nothin’,
and sometimes they search their heads for meanings, stories,
stars.
The stuff of it runs like this:
A long way we come; a long way to go; long rests and long deep
sniffs for our lungs on the way.
Sleep is a belonging of all; even if all songs are old songs and
the singing heart is snuffed out like a switchman’s lantern
with the oil gone, even if we forget our names and houses in
the finish, the secret of sleep is left us, sleep belongs to all,
sleep is the first and last and best of all.

People singing; people with song mouths connecting with song
hearts; people who must sing or die; people whose song
hearts break if there is no song mouth; these are my people.

I went looking for a quote about Labor in the back of my mind that memory said was in Harry Truman’s address in Philadelphia accepting the nomination of the Democratic National Convention.
I found ” … labor never had but one friend in politics, and that is the Democratic Party and Franklin D. Roosevelt.”

But what I also came across was this:

The United States has to accept its full responsibility for leadership in international affairs.

We have been the backers and the people who organized and started the United Nations, first started under that great Democratic President, Woodrow Wilson, as the League of Nations. The League was sabotaged by the Republicans in 1920.

And we must see that the United Nations continues a strong and growing body, so we can have everlasting peace in the world.

We removed trade barriers in the world, which is the best asset we can have for peace.

Those trade barriers must not be put back into operation again.

Harry had some wild ideas back then.

Raise minimum wage.

Universal Health Care.

This was the famous Give’em Hell Harry speech.

Mr. Truman later said all he did was tell the truth … which made the Republican’s feel like they were in hell.

I can see how that strategy would work today.

1.20.205 – anyone can fool

anyone can fool
too many of the people
too much of the time

The Owl Who Was God

Once upon a starless midnight there was an owl who sat on the branch of an oak tree. Two ground moles tried to slip quietly by, unnoticed. “You!” said the owl. “Who?” they quavered, in fear and astonishment, for they could not believe it was possible for anyone to see them in that thick darkness. “You two!” said the owl. The moles hurried away and told the other creatures of the field and forest that the owl was the greatest and wisest of all animals because he could see in the dark and because he could answer any question. “I’ll see about that,” said a secretary bird, and he called on the owl one night when it was again very dark. “How many claws am I holding up?” said the secretary bird, “Two,” said the owl, and that was right. “Can you give me another expression for ‘that is to say’ or ‘namely’?” asked the secretary bird. “To wit,” said the owl. “Why does a lover call on his love?” asked the secretary bird. “To woo,” said the owl.

The secretary bird hastened back to the other creatures and reported that the owl was indeed the greatest and wisest animal in the world because he could see in the dark and because he could answer any question. “Can he see in the daytime, too?” asked a red fox. “Yes,” echoed a dormouse and a French poodle. “Can he see in the daytime, too?” All the other creatures laughed loudly at this silly question, and they set upon the red fox and his friends and drove them out of the region. Then they sent a messenger to the owl and asked him to be their leader.

When the owl appeared among the animals it was high noon and the sun was shining brightly. He walked very slowly, which gave him an appearance of great dignity, and he peered about him with large, staring eyes, which gave him an air of tremendous importance. “He’s God!” screamed a Plymouth Rock hen. And the others took up the cry “He’s God!” So they followed him wherever he went and when he began to bump into things they began to bump into things, too. Finally he came to a concrete highway and he started up the middle of it and all the other creatures followed him. Presently a hawk, who was acting as outrider, observed a truck coming toward them at fifty miles an hour, and he reported to the secretary bird and the secretary bird reported to the owl. “There’s danger ahead,” said the secretary bird. “To wit?” said the owl. The secretary bird told him. “Aren’t you afraid?” he asked. “Who?” said the owl calmly, for he could not see the truck. “He’s God!” cried all the creatures again, and they were still crying “He’s God!” when the truck hit them and ran them down. Some of the animals were merely injured, but most of them, including the owl, were killed.

Moral: You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.

From Fables for Our Time by James Thurber.

Seemed appropriate for today.