Some Thoughts for a Sunday Morning
#1 - Two quotes from Tocqueville:
“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith” (Democracy in America, http://libertytree.ca/quotes/Alexis.de.Tocqueville.Quote.8AF2).
“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults” (Democracy in America, https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville).
#2 - A 21-year-old paints swastikas in Sarasota and is caught on film by security cameras (“Deputies charging 21-year-old man for vandalizing 2 Jewish temples in Sarasota,” WFLA, https://www.wfla.com/news/sarasota-county/deputies-charging-21-year-old-man-for-vandalizing-2-jewish-temples-in-sarasota/). One wonders what he has been viewing and reading to influence him.
#3 - “It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually turned into a wilderness. I hear approaching thunder, I feel the suffering of millions, and yet, if I look up to the heavens, I think that it will all come out right one of these days; that this cruelty will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals for perhaps the day will come when I shall be able to carry them out.”
The writer was Anne Frank (The Diary of a Young Girl, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl). Readers may wish to try an experiment. Ask younger persons a question: “Do you know the name Anne Frank?’ Hear what they say. Then ponder again what a 21-year-old views and reads.
#4 - Here’s a very positive story about a white cop and kids playing basketball in the street. It was featured on “Good Morning America” back in January 2016: “Shaquille O'Neal Joins Florida Cop to Surprise Kids at Pickup Basketball Game,” ABC News, https://www.youtube.com/embed/gYbW5Q91hyA. Hat tip to my friend Bill Dunkelberg.
Happy Sunday Morning!
David R. Kotok
Chairman of the Board & Chief Investment Officer
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