As the staff of Blogistan Polytechnic Institute watched the faculty make their way from the wine cellar library to the hot tub faculty lounge for that game where the underwear goes flying their weekly conference, a thought struck us: at least they're doing something.
This plus some other weekend observations - ranging from the Ted Kennedy memorials to the Blogistani Emigration Uprising - evoked a minor staff epiphany. The Professor of Astrology Janitor said we should talk about doing something too. Chef said we should just do something instead. Because as Morning Feature regular xxdr zombiexx noted in a Top Comment: "When you gaze into the navel, the navel gazes back into you."
More below the fold....
Action This Day!
Before we do anything else, though, let's first thank last week's guest diarists. Last Tuesday, our Professor of Juronursinfosystology FarWestGirl concluded her two-part series titled Religiosity + Politics = Holy War. And last Wednesday, Professor of Ecoinsaninsuroscamology winterbanyan offered a chilling insight with Health Care Networks and the Big Lie. If you missed either, please give them a read.
Tomorrow, Professor of Mediamaternity theKgirls will offer a follow-up to her previous lecture on Fear and Loathing in Massachusetts. Please arrive early so you don't get stuck with that chair with one short leg. Chef will serve breakfast beverages and bagels in the lobby afterward, while the Professor of Astrology Janitor tries to fix that chair.
Note: We currently have no guest diarist for Wednesday (September 2nd), nor anyone for next week (September 8th-9th). If you would like to guest host a Morning Feature, please volunteer in a comment below.
Winston Churchill used the bright red label "Action this Day!" on orders sent to various ministries of the British government in World War II. That attitude echoed in the stories shared by friends of Ted Kennedy. Kennedy was a doer, not a thinker. He had no patience for philosophical debates about the proper role of government or our duties to our fellow man. Such debates would merely consume time Kennedy could otherwise have spent actually doing something for someone. As his niece Caroline said at his memorial, his unique gift lay not in knowing what needed doing or a special capacity for doing it, but his willingness to step up and do it.
It wasn't that Kennedy lacked philosophical grounding in his life. To the contrary, he had a clear idea of what government should be and his duties to his fellow man, and saw no need to analyze or revise it. He reportedly silenced such debates with "Didn't you ever read the Bible?" If the readings chosen for his funeral Mass are a clue, as teacherken explored yesterday, Kennedy's philosophy was clearly stated in Matthew 25: I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink, naked and you clothed me, a stranger and you took me in, sick and in prison and you comforted me ... for what you did for the least of these, you did for me. What remained was to turn that philosophy into action.
So this week Morning Feature will focus on action, exploring real-world steps each of us can do - individually and collectively - to help "the least of these." We'll ask you to join us in committing to do at least one of them, each day. Call it homework ... or just trying to follow Ted Kennedy's example.
For today's assignment: visit, call, write a letter, or send a card to a sick friend. It's one of the things Teddy was most noted for, and one of the kindnesses his friends most cherished.
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Happy Monday!