I am reading a great book for the second time! It is titled, “The Closing of the American Mind" by Allan Bloom. There is a chapter on books that will make you think about the importance of reading in a person’s life. Mr. Bloom has watched a decline in good reading from his students. His thesis is without good reading the soul is shallow and has a reduced capacity to process heroic virtues. The pop culture does not recognize virtuous behavior, but recognizes bizarre behaviors. Classic books give people examples of heroic virtue and helps us draw on the strength of our past when we go through our own struggles. When you have a friend that is hurting you can draw on the loyalty of Achilles to his friend. When you need to make a moral stand, you can draw on Daniel willing to be thrown to the lions for what he believed. When you are oppressed by tyranny you can read about Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty of give me death!” How would you process these thoughts without reference to the great men and women of the past? I encourage everyone to read more and read better books. Just as there is junk food there is also junk reading. To be virtuous you need to have examples of virtuous behavior and model this behavior in your own life. No excuses about your past or how you were raised! It is your life and you have the power to choose to read, listen and grow. Leadership is a choice and a life well lived is the reward! Let me give you a couple of Mr. Blooms thoughts:
“I began to ask students who their heroes are. Again, there is usually silence, and most frequently nothing follows. Why should anyone have heroes?”
“In us the contempt for the heroic is only an extension of the perversion of the democratic principle that denies greatness and wants everyone to feel comfortable in his skin without having to suffer unpleasant comparisons.”
“One can only pity young people without admirations they can respect or avow, who are artificially restrained from the enthusiasm for great virtue.”
“Idealism as it is commonly conceived should have primacy in an education, for man is a being who must take his orientation by his possible perfection. To attempt to suppress this most natural of all inclinations because of possible abuses is, almost literally, to throw out the baby with the bath.”
“But deprived of literary guidance, they no longer have any image of a perfect soul, and hence do not long to have one. They do not even imagine that there is such a thing……Thus the most common student view lacks an awareness of the depths as well of the heights, and lacks gravity.”
I will be recommending good books to improve your life and leadership on this blog. Drink deeply of the classics and watch your perspective choices widen as you draw on the knowledge gained from great books. You will enjoy Mr. Bloom’s thought provoking book. God Bless, Orrin Woodward
