Untested faith may produce unexpected results when faced with unanticipated trials.
Category Archives: Sayings
Random axioms, proverbs, and stuff that is fun to say, even if it is not too meaningful or substantive.
Fighting for Civil Rights
Civil rights must always be fought for to be maintained. If we tolerate injustice, injustice will be seen as just.
Flattery
Flattery is encouragement with an ulterior motive.
When things go wrong
When it is impossible to change your circumstances, the only thing left to change is your attitude.
Conjecture
Conjecture is a lie that lacks confidence.
Teaching Sciences to the Exclusion of the Arts
To emphasize the sciences and neglect the arts is like emphasizing the sterility of a delivery room while ignoring the miracle of birth that happens there.
Imprisoned in my Baltimore Home
Earlier this evening, shortly after the curfew took effect, I stood at the back gate of my home in Baltimore City. If I opened the gate and took a step onto the street, I would be breaking the law. I felt a great need to express my sadness over what has become of my adopted home. Here it is:
Freedom Bound in Darkness
The lads with no dads are always so mad
Hurting my town and breaking it down
Feeling a debt, taking what can be had
.
Prisoners of the night are those who want right
Their freedoms submerged until they all drown
Because the lads with no dads are always so mad
.
To them nothing is easy, it’s always a fight
Even joy is fleeting, it ends in a frown
Feeling a debt, taking what can be had
.
While they seem to run free, we’re bound until light
Some drown in blood, others break the crown
The lads with no dads are always so mad
.
When greed replaces need, the stores ignite
The charm has gone, with smoke it has flown
As they feel a debt and take what can be had
.
Teeming in numbers, faking true might
Losing their future, having infamy, not renown
The lads with no dads are always so mad
Feeling a debt, taking what can be had
Love and Pain
The great conundrum of love is that the pain of loss is amplified by the quality and magnitude of that love.
The truly intelligent
True intelligence is seen in those who know everything about nothing, much about a few things, a little about many things, and are humble and wise enough to understand and admit the difference.
An Independence Day Letter to my Students
I am privileged to be an adjunct professor for Everest College. The opportunity to touch the lives of hundreds of students is something I greatly relish. On Independence Day, 2014, I wrote the following to my current students. If you are a former student of mine, or if you just came across this blog for some other reason, I hope that you’ll take to heart the following:
Dearest Students:
As we go into this holiday weekend, I hope you all remember what we are truly celebrating. The independence that our nation gained over 200 years ago is something that allows us to be studying as we are here today. We don’t need any sort of royal decree to allow us to teach. In slightly over two centuries of existence, our great nation has accomplished many wonderful things. We face challenging times, as is often the case in any great nation. What makes America truly great is not only our great freedoms, but how we deal with struggles and the hard times in life. We are an exceptional nation made up of exceptional people.
It’s important that you are always aware of the great sacrifices that it took to get to where we stand today. If while you’re watching a parade, you happen to see a veteran, go up to that man or that woman and express your thanks for that person’s service to our great country. Having been a soldier, I can tell you that the greatest challenges are those we face when we get back into the “real” world. While many of our veterans don’t bear their scars on the outside, a great number bear scars on the inside. One out of every four homeless people is a veteran. On any given day, 22 veterans die at their own hands. If you started counting the number of veterans who died this way from New Year’s Day until Labor Day, the number would exceed those who died in the entire Iraqi conflict. Independence is something that we enjoy freely, but it didn’t come cheaply.
You have great things waiting for you after this class is done. College is one of the few places where you have the ability to determine almost everything that happens to you. You choose how much to study, you choose how hard you work on assignments, and you choose how much you participate in the discussion threads. If there is anything that I can tell you about your educational experience to come, it’s this; it doesn’t get easier. I have a dual Bachelor’s, a Diploma in Military Science, two Master’s degrees, and I’m working toward a postgraduate degree, and it is as hard today as it was when I was a college freshman 35 years ago. It’s always a challenge, but it’s always worth it. During the introductions to class, we ask you about those who will be your greatest supporters. It’s wonderful to have support, but remember one thing, the only one that you need to impress with what you do at school, is yourself. When you look at your grades, don’t gauge yourself so much on the letter grade as you do on the level of effort that went into achieving that letter grade. If you get a C in a class, and you put every bit of your being into earning that, then feel good about it. The size of the diploma of a student that carried a 2.9 GPA is not any smaller than that of a student who earned a perfect 4.0.Best wishes to you all,
Andy Knaster, BA, MA, MSIS
Adjunct Prof., Everest College Phoenix Online
GPA
The size of the diploma of a student that carried a 2.9 GPA is not any smaller than that of a student who earned a perfect 4.0.
Failing versus being a failure
The difference between a person that fails and a person that is a failure is the person that fails prepares better and comes back harder.
President Obama’s Promise Zones
Promise Zones? Really? The president promised Detroit that he would not let it fail. He promised us that if we liked our doctors and our insurance, we could keep them. He promised us that he would close Gitmo. He promised us that he would lead the most transparent administration in history. I look at his promises like a bad case of gas. They stink from the moment they are made and eventually they are followed by crap that needs to be cleaned up!
The Apprehension of Knowledge
The apprehension of knowledge that comes in the midst of great travail is often the most cherished.
The Sum of Knowledge
The sum of knowledge can be seen in this: we are taught, we express what we think we have learned, our errors are corrected, and we learn more by doing better.