Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Ink stains that changed the world...

Calvin Coolidge once said, "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful individuals with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius if almost proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
I love this stuff. Not because it’s digestible or it has the capability to thump common sense into our process of success but Coolidge was brave enough to let go of his art.

There’s something to be said about every writer be it published, hidden away in closets or an every so often dabbler of beginning middle and end; the nearly cold tip of a writing instrument meeting the flat smooth surface of a sheet of paper has the ability to recharge the strongest Eveready Battery.
A pen speaks what others are thinking…

It’s no different than comedians like Chelsea Handler, Don Rickles, Pam Stone, Chris Rock, Kathy Griffin and Joan Rivers standing before the masses under the sweltering heat produced by stage lights designed to make common everyday travelers into part time psychologists whose medicine is laughter.

No CVS or Rite Aid, no Doc in Box or chiropractor to pop your body’s knuckle system, each well rehearsed life experience is so relatable your diaphragm belches what so many during these difficult times in the 21st Century can’t do…laugh.

Hollywood says Jennifer Lopez is upset that Steven Tyler is getting more face time on American Idol. Charlie Sheen doesn’t find anything wrong with putting in a hard days work then tossing down a serious amount of fun in the privacy of life. Is Justin Bieber dating Selena Gomez? How can the Stock Market experience the biggest and best day it’s had since 2008 and 9.8% of our state is still unemployed?

Born in 1872 Calvin Coolidge was a practicing lawyer before becoming deeply involved in politics. He was the Mayor of Northampton then a Senator, Governor of Massachusetts then Warren Harding’s Vice President. By the rules that make this nation beyond great Mr. Coolidge was one of few who became President not by the people’s right to vote but through default; Harding suffered a heart attack landing the former lawyer in a pair of beat up old shoes stepping in the middle of two World Wars.

It was Calvin Coolidge that introduced a common mans opinion to the rest of the world; in 1928 a pact was made between fifteen countries who agreed that war was not a viable method of settling international disputes. Secretary of State Frank Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand were the men that placed the tip of their writing instrument on the flat smooth surface of a sheet of paper releasing their art in the way of changing the world.

What message are you leaving behind?

I’m handwriting a letter of appoligy to my step-daughter Jenny’s children who’ll be too busy to visit when the final page of the book life wrote for me is touched. They’ll be working six part time jobs trying to make ends meet. Absolutely they’ll have college degrees! Jenny wouldn’t have it any other way. The only thing she can’t change is how Corporate America ignores persistence and determination, talent and genius and more importantly education and replacing it with ___________________ (you fill in the blank)

What if you jotted down an idea and like Mr. Kellogg and Briand it changed the way the wind blows? What if our nation featured business leaders that take a common idea and help give it air to breathe? What would you write?

I’ll always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

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