Baseball Quiz: [Lynne Cheney history portion.] 1) Highest
batting average over 5 consecutive seasons (100 or more games);
N.L.? A.L.? 2) Most consecutive seasons leading league in
batting; N.L.? A.L.? 3) Most hit by pitch, season? [Major league
record] Answers below.
John McCain
I received my Wake Forest alumni magazine the other day and
had forgotten that Senator McCain gave the commencement
speech at Wake this past May. Well, I looked it up and it is
really quite good. Actually, if you are a fan of McCain, as I am,
you’ll love it. Parents, print this out and give to your college-
aged kids.
—–
[The beginning is excerpted.]
The invitation to give this commencement address is a great
privilege for someone who graduated fifth from the bottom in the
United States Naval Academy of 1958. To stand here, at this
venerable institution, before this distinguished assembly, in full
academic regalia, and commend young men and women who are
far more accomplished than I was at their age has reaffirmed my
life-long faith that in America anything is possible.
But spare a moment for those who have truly attended you so
well and for so long, and whose pride in your accomplishments
is even greater than your own – your parents. When the world
was looking elsewhere, your parents’ attention was one of life’s
certainties. And if tomorrow the world seems a little more
indifferent as it awaits new achievements from you, your
families will still be your most unstinting source of
encouragement and counsel.
All of you will eventually face a choice whether you will
become leaders in commerce, government, religion, the arts, the
military or any integral part of society. Or will you allow others
to assume that responsibility while you reap the blessings of
freedom and prosperity without meaningfully contributing to the
progress of humanity. Such responsibility, to be sure, is not an
unalloyed blessing. Leadership is both burden and privilege.
But I don’t believe a passive, comfortable life is worth forgoing
the deep satisfaction, the self-respect that comes from employing
all the blessings God has bestowed on you to leaving the world a
better place for your presence in it.
No one expects you at your age to know precisely how you will
lead accomplished lives or use your talents in a cause greater
than your self-interest. It has been my experience that such
choices reveal themselves over time to every human being. They
are seldom choices that arrive just once, are resolved at one time,
and, thus, permanently fix the course of your life.
Once in a great while a person is confronted with a choice or a
dilemma, the implications of which are so profound that its
resolution might affect your life forever. But that happens rarely
and to relatively few people. For most people life is long enough
and varied enough to account for occasional mistakes and
failures.
You might think that this is the point in my remarks that I issue a
standard exhortation not to be afraid to fail. I’m not going to do
that. Be afraid. Speaking from experience, failing stinks. Just
don’t stop there. Don’t be undone by it. Move on. Failure is no
more a permanent condition than success. “Defeat is never
fatal,” Winston Churchill observed. “Victory is never final. It’s
courage that counts.”
It is courage that counts. And it counts much more when you
employ it on behalf of others, for purposes beyond personal
advantage. In this country, use your courage, as you should use
your liberty, to reaffirm human dignity.
Theodore Roosevelt is one of my political heroes. The
“strenuous life” was T.R.’s definition of Americanism, a
celebration of America’s pioneer ethos, the virtues that inspired
our belief in ourselves as the New Jerusalem, bound by sacred
duty to suffer hardship and risk danger to protect the values of
our civilization and impart them to humanity. “We cannot sit
huddled within our borders,” he warned, “and avow ourselves
merely an assemblage of well-to-do hucksters who care nothing
for what happens beyond.”
His Americanism was not fidelity to a tribal identity. Nor was it
limited to a sentimental attachment to our “amber waves of
grain” or “purple mountains majesty.” Roosevelt’s Americanism
exalted the political values of a nation where the people are
sovereign, recognizing not only the inherent justice of self-
determination, not only that freedom empowered individuals to
decide their destiny for themselves, but that it empowered them
to choose a common destiny. And for Roosevelt that common
destiny surpassed material gain and self-interest. Our freedom
and industry must aspire to more than acquisition and luxury.
We must live out the true meaning of freedom, and accept “that
we have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can
shirk neither.”
Some critics, in his day and ours, saw in Roosevelt’s patriotism
only flag-waving chauvinism, not all that dissimilar to Old
World allegiances that incited one people to subjugate another
and plunged whole continents into war. But they did not see the
universality of the ideals that formed his creed.
A few years ago, I read an account of an Irishman’s attempt to
make the first crossing of the Antarctic on foot. In August 1914,
Sir Ernest Shackleton placed an advertisement in a London
newspaper.
“MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL
WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE
DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN
DOUBTFUL. HONOUR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF
SUCCESS.”
Twenty-eight men answered the ad and began a twenty-two
month trial of wind, ice, snow and endurance. Photographs of
the expedition survive today produced from plate glass negatives
that one of Shackleton’s men dove into freezing Antarctic waters
to rescue from their sinking ship. The deprivations these men
suffered are almost unimaginable. They spent four months
marooned on a desolate ice-covered island before they were
rescued by Shackleton himself. They endured three months of
polar darkness, and were forced to shoot their sled dogs for food.
Their mission failed, but they recorded an epic of courage and
honor that far surpassed the accomplishment that had exceeded
their grasp. When they returned to England, most of them
immediately enlisted to fight in World War I.
Years later, Shackleton looked back on the character of his
shipmates. He had had the sublime privilege of witnessing a
thousand acts of unselfish courage, and he understood the greater
glory that it achieved. “In memories we were rich,” he wrote.
“We had pierced the veneer of outside things.”
I thought when I read it that there, in that memorable turn of
phrase, was the Roosevelt code. To pierce the veneer of outside
things, to strive for something more ennobling than the luxuries
that privilege and wealth have placed within easy reach. For the
memories of such accomplishments are fleeting, attributable as
they are to the fortuitous circumstances of our birth, and reflect
little credit on our character or our nation’s.
Nationalism is not intrinsically good. For it to be so a nation
must transcend attachments to land and folk to champion
universal rights of freedom and justice that reflect and animate
the virtues of its citizenry. Racism and despotism have perverted
many a citizen’s love of country into a noxious ideology.
Nazism and Stalinism are two of the more malignant examples.
National honor, no less than personal honor, has only the worth it
derives from its defense of human dignity. Then, and only then,
are they virtues in themselves. Many a patriotic German sought
honor in doing one’s duty to the fuhrer and fatherland. History
and humanity, not to mention a just God, scorn them for it.
Prosperity, military power, a well-educated society are the
attainments of a great nation, but they are not its essence. If they
are used only in pursuit of self-interest or to serve unjust ends
they degrade national greatness. Nazi Germany was temporarily
a powerful nation. It was never a great one.
We are not a perfect nation. Prosperity and power might delude
us into thinking we have achieved that distinction, but inequities
and challenges unforeseen a mere generation ago command
every good citizen’s concern and labor. But what we have
achieved in our brief history is irrefutable proof that a nation
conceived in liberty, will prove stronger and more enduring than
any nation ordered to exalt the few at the expense of the many or
made from a common race or culture or to preserve traditions
that have no greater attribute than longevity.
For all the terrible suffering they caused, the attacks of
September 11 did have one good effect. Americans remembered
how blessed we are, and how we are united with all people
whose aspirations to freedom and justice are threatened with
violence and cruelty. We instinctively grasped that the terrorists
who organized the attacks mistook materialism as the only value
of liberty. They believed liberty was corrupting, that the right of
individuals to pursue happiness made societies weak. They held
us in contempt. Spared by prosperity from the hard uses of life,
bred by liberty only for comfort and easy pleasure, they thought
us no match for the violent, cruel struggle they planned for us.
They badly misjudged us.
What ensures our success in this struggle is that our military
strength is only surpassed by the strength of our ideals, and our
unconquerable love for them. Our enemies are weaker than we
are in arms and men, but weaker still in causes. They fight to
express an irrational hatred of all that is good in humanity, a
hatred that has fallen time and again to the armies and ideals of
the righteous. We fight for love of freedom and justice; a love
that is invincible. We will never surrender. They will.
My friends, if you want to know a happiness far more sublime
than pleasure lend your talents, your industry, your courage to
the service of our ideals. For in their service, you will discover
their authentic meaning, the broad sweep of their virtue, more
than you can learn from the lessons of history, the instruction of
civic textbooks, or from the advice of any commencement
speaker.
Take your place in the enterprise of renewal, give your counsel,
your labor, and your passion in your time to advancing the
universal ideals upon which this nation was founded. Prove
again, as those who came before you proved, that a people free to
act in their own interests will perceive their interests in an
enlightened way, will live as one nation, in a kinship of ideals,
and make of our power and wealth a civilization for the ages, a
civilization in which all people share in the promise of freedom.
All lives are a struggle against selfishness. All my life I’ve stood
a little apart from institutions I willingly joined. It just felt
natural to me. But if my life had shared no common purpose, it
wouldn’t have amounted to much beyond eccentricity. There is
no honor or happiness in just being strong enough to be left
alone.
I’ve made plenty of mistakes. And I have many regrets. But
only when I have separated my interests from my country’s
ideals are those regrets profound. That is the honor and the
privilege of public service in a nation that isn’t just land and
ethnicity, but a noble idea and cause, a champion of human
dignity. Any benefit that ever accrued to me on occasions in my
public life when I perceived my self-interest as unrelated to the
cause I was sworn to serve, has been as fleeting as pleasure, and
as meaningless as an empty gesture.
In America, our rights come before our duties. We are a free
people, and among our freedoms is the liberty to not sacrifice for
our birthright. Yet those who claim their liberty but not the duty
to the civilization that ensures it, live a half-life, having indulged
their self-interest at the cost of their self-respect. The richest
man or woman, the most successful and celebrated Americans,
possess nothing of importance if their lives have no greater
object than themselves. They may be masters of their own fate,
but what poor destiny it is that claims no higher cause than
wealth or fame.
Should we claim our rights and not our duty to ensure their
blessings to others, whatever we gain for ourselves will be of
little lasting value. It will build no monuments to virtue, claim
no honored place in the memory of posterity, offer no worthy
summons to other nations. Success, wealth, celebrity gained and
kept for private interest is a small thing. It makes us
comfortable, eases the material hardships our children will bear,
purchases a fleeting regard for our lives, yet not the self-respect
that in the end matters most. But sacrifice for a cause greater
than your self-interest, and you invest your life with the
eminence of that cause, your self-respect assured.
When I was a young man, I thought glory was the highest
ambition, and that all glory was self-glory. My parents tried to
teach me otherwise, as did the Naval Academy. But I didn’t
understand the lesson until later in life, when I confronted
challenges I never expected to face.
In that confrontation, I discovered that I was dependent on others
to a greater extend than I had ever realized, but that neither they
nor the cause we served made any claims on my identity. On the
contrary, they gave me a larger sense of myself than I had before.
And I am a better man for it. I discovered that nothing in life is
more liberating than to fight for a cause that encompasses you,
but is not defined by your existence alone. And that has made all
the difference, my friends, all the difference in the world.
Those days were long ago. But not so long that I have forgotten
their purpose and their reward. This is your moment to make
history. This is your chance to pierce the veneer of outside
things, to live out the authentic meaning of freedom.
I don’t know how far humanity will progress in this century, but
I expect great things, great things indeed. I envy you for the
discoveries you will experience that I can only imagine, but will
not see. Be worthy of your times and your advantages. Your
opportunity is at hand. Make the most of it.
—–
Stuff
–Say you’re in charge of setting up a corporate outing of some
kind and you want a golfer to appear and schmooze with the
clients or employees. What will the appearance fee run for some
select pros?
Greg Norman – $300,000
Phil Mickelson – $250,000
Jack Nicklaus – $250,000
Gary McCord – $30,000
Pat Perez – $5,000
According to Golf Digest, the above normally gets you about 10
hours with the player. Tiger must be in the $million range.
Actually, for my money, McCord at $30,000 is a bargain. Not
only is he entertaining, he also has an excellent reputation as a
teacher.
Then you have my new favorite whipping boy, Perez, whom I
mentioned on Tuesday for his boorish behavior at last week’s
Buick Open. I wouldn’t pay $75 for this punk.
–Speaking of golf, your editor’s official “sleeper” pick for the
U.S. Open is Angel Cabrera.
–And speaking of lousy sports picks let’s see, I had Argentina
winning the World Cup, with Poland as a “sleeper.” Both are
out.
–I saw the following in the entertainment section of my local
paper today.
“Two musicians have filed a lawsuit against Britney Spears,
claiming that a couple of songs on her album ‘Oops! I Did It
Again’ were based on a tune they wrote.”
Now these two Philly guys claim that they “authored, recorded
and copyrighted a song called ‘What You See Is What You Get’
in late 1999.”
Hel-lo! With all due respect, the real original is “Whatcha See Is
Whatcha Get” by The Dramatics, a #9 hit from July 1971. This
is also simply one of the great tunes of all time, super “air-mike”
song, if you know what I’m sayin’. So I’m suing everyone on
behalf of The Dramatics. [The group also had the #5 hit, “In The
Rain,” 3/72.]
–Cigarette Ad, circa 1946 [From the book “All-American Ads:
40s”, edited by Jim Heimann]. Offered without comment.
[Exact Quote]
According to a recent Nationwide survey:
More Doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette!
Not one but three outstanding independent research organizations
conducted this survey. And they asked not just a few thousand,
but 113,597 doctors from coast to coast to name the cigarette
they themselves preferred to smoke.
The answers came in by the thousands from general physicians,
diagnosticians, surgeons – yes, and nose and throat specialists
too. The most-named brand was Camel.
If you are not now smoking Camels, try them. Compare them
critically. See how the full, rich flavor of Camel’s costlier
tobaccos suits your taste. See how the cool mildness of a Camel
suits your throat.
[Huh]
Top 3 songs for the week of 6/12/76: #1 “Silly Love Songs”
(Wings) #2 “Get Up And Boogie (That’s Right) (Silver
Convention) #3 “Misty Blue” (Dorthy (sic) Moore)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Highest BA over 5 cons. seasons:
N.L. – Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis, 1921-25 (.4024)
A.L. – Ty Cobb, Detroit, 1909-1913 (.3965)
2) Most cons. seasons leading league in batting:
N.L. – 6, Rogers Hornsby, 1920-25
A.L. – 9, Ty Cobb, 1907-1915
3) Most hit by pitch, season: Ron Hunt, 50, Montreal (1971
he hit only .279 but his on-base avg. was over .400). Hunt was
my brother’s hero so once a year we have to work him in. Hunt
also still holds the N.L. career record for getting plugged, 243
times, while Don Baylor is the A.L. leader at 267.
**Folks, don’t forget that second round World Cup games start
Saturday and Sunday, either at 2:30 AM or 7:30 AM ET.
Take Friday off to sleep you have my permission.
**Congratulations to Ireland!
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
