Saturday, December 11, 2010

Candle in the Whirlwind

“It’s not criminals who provoke great hatred, it’s honest men.” The words of a polymath and polyglot executed by tyrants at age 35: Dr. Jose Rizal.

Honesty is fidelity to the truth. The truth is what conforms to reality. Integrity is fidelity to logic. It is the refusal to hold contradictions; it is the consistent cohesion of words and deeds; it is honoring one’s mental creations by giving them physical existence.
When millions are redefining religious freedom to mean faith in bed with force,

When atheism warriors are perverting Objectivism, shunning deists fighting for freedom yet supporting popular theocracy and anarchism warriors,

When many are avoiding Thomas Jefferson’s tempestuous sea of liberty,

When freedom fighters fail to grasp a concrete defiance against tyranny,

When loved ones and friends are distant or silent,

     The lonely Jeffersonian must face a Rizalist fate almost alone.

6 comments:

Ilyn Ross said...

"In matters of principle, stand like a rock." -- Thomas Jefferson

Ilyn Ross said...

Honesty is fidelity to the truth. The truth is what conforms to reality. Integrity is fidelity to logic. It is the refusal to hold contradictions; it is the consistent cohesion of words and deeds; it is honoring one’s mental creations by giving them physical existence.

http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=186327141383420&notes_tab=app_2347471856#!/note.php?note_id=160927583953730

Ilyn Ross said...

“One man with courage is a majority.” - Thomas Jefferson

Ilyn Ross said...

Should the law allow employers to dictate what their employees say/do outside of work?

I adore Howard Roak in The Fountainhead for his integrity. Roark had no family; he had no kids, no sick spouse. He is fictional.

Whereas, my spouse has been very sick; he has MS. We have kids. I am the sole breadwinner of the family. There is a recession. I reckon that many companies would not hire me for suing JP Morgan Chase.

Ilyn Ross said...

"Men have died in torture chambers, on the stake, in concentration camps, in front of firing squads, rather than renounce their convictions. The appeaser renounces his under the pressure of a frown on a vacant face." -- Ayn Rand

Ilyn Ross said...

There was a time when I felt like a lone candle in the whirlwind. Information Technology is not only a tool for progress, but a bulwark for freedom, allowing small voices to associate and share information.

http://ilynross.blogspot.com/2010/12/candle-in-whirlwind.html