I want to offer two excerpts that I have come across as we move from 2009 to 2010, that really strike me and have stuck with me as I reflect on the state of our nation/ governement.

• “Only the combination of the intemperateness of lustfulness with the lazy inertia incapable of generating anger is the sign of complete and virtually hopeless degeneration. It appears whenever a caste, a people, or a whole civilization is ripe for its decline and fall.” ~from Josef Pieper’s Four Cardinal Virtues, chapter on Temperance

• “The preservation of liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused generally among the body of a nation, it is impossible they should be enslaved…”~from John Adams by David McCullough, an excerpt that Adams wrote for a tentative oration at Braintree that he never actually made

Now both of these are somewhat disturbing as they alarmingly describe much of our society right now. But, I am ever the eternal optimist and upon reading both of these, found them to be somewhat inspiring and hopeful because they show us an answer and provide a call to action.

If we do not want to be “ripe for our deline and fall” or enslaved, then we should strive to quench intemperate lust, and not give into the lazy inertia that allows us to forgive injustice too easily; we should strive to cultivate knowledge and virtue generally among all members of society, and set the standard high for the intellectual and moral character of our nation and our leaders.

Challenging, yet encouraging. Goal: diffuse knowledge and virtue among inner city Chicago girls. I’ll get back to you on the results.