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The Water Cooler
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This doesn't fit very well with the human induced Global Warming Theory
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<blockquote data-quote="Dave70968" data-source="post: 2997596" data-attributes="member: 13624"><p>"After careful thought, the Countess has decided that the pursuit of excellence is elitist . The post−moderns hold that elitism is a mortal sin. Such folk must lead complicated lives. The fact is that some people are better than other people, on any point worth discussing, from shining shoes to making money. Equality is not only impossible, but also undesirable. We may suppose that it exists among jellyfish, but I am not even sure of that.</p><p></p><p>...</p><p></p><p>The pursuit of excellence has long been our guiding principle, both professionally and personally. Since happiness is the byproduct of accomplishment, the search for excellence in both major and minor things is the key to happiness.</p><p></p><p>And this presents a social problem. If you do things well in the classroom, on the playing field or on the battlefield, you will be doing things better than some of those around you. This tends to frost the majority.You know this and the majority knows this. This makes you unpopular − "stuck up" is the term we used to use in school. This may or may not make you an "elitist," depending upon whether you flaunt it or attempt to discredit it. Modesty is a pleasant social attribute, but when overdone it can be rather silly. When a soldier is awarded his medal of honor or when a prima donna minimizes her extra bow, it is fatuous for him or her to pretend that what was accomplished was trivial. Excellence is not trivial. Excellence may be 'elitist,' as the Countess suggests. It may not be achieved by everyone, but it may be striven for by everyone, successfully or otherwise. In teaching so−called "Senior Problems" in high school, I used to present Kipling's great poetic exhortation 'If.' I remember a student approaching me after class one day complaining that the standards set forth in the verse were just too high for reasonable aspiration. My response was that while in truth the standards set forth might be unachievable, they were not unapproachable. All of us may not meet that standard, but every one of us can try to meet that standard, and ought to do so."</p><p></p><p>--Col. Jeff Cooper, <em>Cooper's Commentaries</em>, Vol. 12, Nos. 2 and 12.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dave70968, post: 2997596, member: 13624"] "After careful thought, the Countess has decided that the pursuit of excellence is elitist . The post−moderns hold that elitism is a mortal sin. Such folk must lead complicated lives. The fact is that some people are better than other people, on any point worth discussing, from shining shoes to making money. Equality is not only impossible, but also undesirable. We may suppose that it exists among jellyfish, but I am not even sure of that. ... The pursuit of excellence has long been our guiding principle, both professionally and personally. Since happiness is the byproduct of accomplishment, the search for excellence in both major and minor things is the key to happiness. And this presents a social problem. If you do things well in the classroom, on the playing field or on the battlefield, you will be doing things better than some of those around you. This tends to frost the majority.You know this and the majority knows this. This makes you unpopular − "stuck up" is the term we used to use in school. This may or may not make you an "elitist," depending upon whether you flaunt it or attempt to discredit it. Modesty is a pleasant social attribute, but when overdone it can be rather silly. When a soldier is awarded his medal of honor or when a prima donna minimizes her extra bow, it is fatuous for him or her to pretend that what was accomplished was trivial. Excellence is not trivial. Excellence may be 'elitist,' as the Countess suggests. It may not be achieved by everyone, but it may be striven for by everyone, successfully or otherwise. In teaching so−called "Senior Problems" in high school, I used to present Kipling's great poetic exhortation 'If.' I remember a student approaching me after class one day complaining that the standards set forth in the verse were just too high for reasonable aspiration. My response was that while in truth the standards set forth might be unachievable, they were not unapproachable. All of us may not meet that standard, but every one of us can try to meet that standard, and ought to do so." --Col. Jeff Cooper, [I]Cooper's Commentaries[/I], Vol. 12, Nos. 2 and 12. [/QUOTE]
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