“Political rightness, if we can imagine such a thing, might begin with allowing all human beings to exist equally in dignity, in rights, and also with the language they feel is adequate to their experience of the world around them.” ~Mícheál McCann, Irish poet
Category Archives: Aspiration
John Stuart Mill “On Liberty”
“The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.”
“…doing as we like, subject to such consequences as may follow: without impediment from our fellow-creatures, so long as what we do does not harm them, even though they should think our conduct foolish, perverse, or wrong.”
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
“Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.”
President Jimmy Carter’s Message to the Universe
“This Voyager spacecraft was constructed by the United States of America. We are a community of 240 million human beings among the more than 4 billion who inhabit the planet Earth. We human beings are still divided into nation states, but these states are rapidly becoming a single global civilization.
“We cast this message into the cosmos. It is likely to survive a billion years into our future, when our civilization is profoundly altered and the surface of the Earth may be vastly changed. Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some—perhaps many—may have inhabited planets and spacefaring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message:
“This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe.“
Jimmy Carter
President of the United States of America
Statement on the launch of NASA’s Voyager I, 1977
Sonmi 451’s Revelation
“Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.”
~Son Mi-451 in David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas
Bryan Cantrill on Being Great, Worthy, and Ethical—all at the same time
- Greatness and innovation come from great teams.
- Your legacy is about how good of a person you are in your various roles… child, sibling, spouse, parent, community member, colleague.
- Potential is realized through integrity.