"VISION"

[Charles Black]

As a result of what I thought was a "waning concern" on my part toward the discussions of this forum, I cared enough to attempt to investigate "the why".

I reviewed what I considered excellent enough material to have personally stored from discussions of appx. one and a half years ago. What was immediately apparent to me, was much of my "stored" material involved "posters" whom we have either lost or have lost much of their very frequently shared thoughts. I consider these persons to have been among "the sharpest blades in the drawer" !

JFK, in a speech in San Antonio on the day prior to his death, stated "....and where there is no vision, people perish".

I feel this a most profound statement ! If pointed in the direction of research and discussion forums, it has an equally profound message. "....and where there is no vision," Research Perishes !

In my usual "un-humble" opinion, there are many here who habit "navigation" thru only their rear view mirrors. This has spelled a degree of ever increasing stagnation, in which new ideas are often rejected with neither cause nor consideration.

This is not only perilous; but insanely so ! It is an attempt to move forward, not by looking forward, but navigating only by the means of knowing what it is that you have already passed.

It should be obvious that the voyage of these people cannot have a favorable ending. Their "future" has long been concluded.

Unfortunately, it is my opinion that we now participate, for the most part, in a History Discussion Forum. What you will know in the future will never be more than what you knew in the past.

Rather than the accustomed response of "getting angry"....why not consider my words as a possibly helpful "critique"....rather than "criticism".

Charles Black

[Michael Hogan]

JFK, in a speech in San Antonio on the day prior to his death, stated "....and where there is no vision, people perish".

I feel this a most profound statement !

A small point perhaps, but President Kennedy actually said these words at the Houston Coliseum at a dinner honoring Representative Albert Thomas. President Kennedy properly attributed the saying to the Bible. (Proverbs 29:18)

Franklin D. Roosevelt used the same passage in his first inaugural address:

http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/fdr-first-inaug.htm

Here is the pertinent excerpt of President Kennedy's remarks:

....In 1990 the age of space will be entering its second phase, and our hopes in it to preserve the peace, to make sure that in this great new sea, as on earth, the United States is second to none. And that is why I salute Albert Thomas and those Texans whom you sent to Washington in his time and since then, who recognize the needs and the trends today in the sixties so that when some meet here in 1990 they will look back on what we did and say that we made the right and wise decisions. "Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions," the Bible tells us, and "where there is no vision, the people perish."

Albert Thomas is old enough to dream dreams, and young enough to see visions. He sees an America of the future, in the lifetime of us all, with 300 million people living in this country with a $2 trillion economy which will happen in this century. Even more important, he sees an America, as do we all, strong in science and in space, in health and in learning, in the respect of its neighbors and all nations--an America that is both powerful and peaceful, with a people that are both prosperous and just. With that vision we shall not perish, and we cannot fail....

The full speech: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=9536

[Myra Bronstein]

...

Albert Thomas is old enough to dream dreams, and young enough to see visions.

...

And corrupt enough to wink at conspirators.