Celebrating Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Our American Democracy

Hello everyone –

 

As we reflect on the recent peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next, I would like to share with you some classic reflections on the nature of the American Republic and its unfolding principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Growing steadily through the decades, and not without setbacks, from one generation to the next, we continue to cherish and increase our understanding of the ideals of unity in diversity, liberty, and justice for all. Our perception and practice of these core values of our Republic have expanded over time, and no doubt these will continue to grow as the future unfolds before us. Our society is not perfect – but we are learning and growing up into our ideals while the rest of the world is watching and learning from us.

 

Excerpt from George Washington's Letter to the Jewish Community of Newport, Rhode Island (1790)

“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”

 

“Columbia the Gem of the Ocean” (1843)

By David T. Shaw & Thomas A. Becket, Sr.

Editor’s Note: This patriotic song served as an unofficial national anthem for the United States until 1931. It was especially popular during the Civil War Era (1861-1865).

 

1. O Columbia! the gem of the ocean,

The home of the brave and the free,

The shrine of each patriot’s devotion,

A world offers homage to thee;

Thy mandates make heroes assemble,

When Liberty’s form stands in view;

Thy banners make tyranny tremble,

When borne by the red, white, and blue.

When borne by the red, white, and blue,

When borne by the red, white, and blue,

Thy banners make tyranny tremble,

When borne by the red, white and blue.

 

2. When war winged its wide desolation,

And threatened the land to deform,

The ark then of freedom’s foundation,

Columbia rode safe through the storm;

With her garlands of victory around her,

When so proudly she bore her brave crew;

With her flag proudly waving before her,

The boast of the red, white and blue.

The boast of the red, white and blue,

The boast of the red, white, and blue,

With her flag proudly floating before her,

The boast of the red, white and blue.

 

3. The Union, the Union forever,

Our glorious nation’s sweet hymn,

May the wreaths it has won never wither,

Nor the stars of its glory grow dim,

May the service united never sever,

But they to their colors prove true.

The Army and Navy forever,

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue.

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue,

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue,

The Army and Navy forever,

Three cheers for the red, white and blue.

 

“The New Colossus” a/k/a “The Statue of Liberty Sonnet” (1883)

By Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

 

“E pluribus unum.” = “Out of many, one.” (Founding Motto of the United States)

 

“Longe vivat Democratia!” = “Long live Democracy!” 😊

 

Rob

 

Reflections from "Ulysses"

 

Hello everyone –

 

Quotemail returns from its annual hollydaze break for a new year that I hope will be happier and healthier for us all. I had been planning to share some poems about the stars and the night sky this time, but events that shocked our nation (and the entire world, too) took place on Wednesday that inspired me to strike a timelier, more reflective tone with the first Quotemail of 2021. Here, in its entirety, is the classic poem “Ulysses,” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson – one of my all-time favorite poems, which reminds us that it’s never too late to begin again, to explore new frontiers, and to keep on striving to reach a newer world.

 

“Ulysses” (Published in 1842)

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

 

It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole

Unequal laws unto a savage race,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel; I will drink

Life to the lees. All times I have enjoyed

Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when

Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea. I am become a name;

For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known — cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,

Myself not least, but honored of them all, —

And drunk delight of battle with my peers,

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough

Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades

Forever and forever when I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!

As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life

Were all too little, and of one to me

Little remains; but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more,

A bringer of new things; and vile it were

For some three suns to store and hoard myself,

And this gray spirit yearning in desire

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

 

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,

To whom I leave the scepter and the isle,

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill

This labor, by slow prudence to make mild

A rugged people, and through soft degrees

Subdue them to the useful and the good.

Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere

Of common duties, decent not to fail

In offices of tenderness, and pay

Meet adoration to my household gods,

When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

 

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;

There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me,

That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed

Free hearts, free foreheads — you and I are old;

Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.

Death closes all; but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;

The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

 

Until next time –

Rob

 

"Ichigu wo terasu." = “Illuminate one corner.” -- Saicho (767-822 CE)

 

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