lgstarr: A message from the past...

My Mom was a Democrat (and Catholic) and my Dad was a Republican (and a Lutheran)...so to keep the peace they tried not to talk a lot of politics or religion. (They compromised by joining a Presbyterian church to baptize me in although, in the late 1980's, I became a Catholic).

Dad was born in 1905 in the small mining town of Bessemer, Michigan. Later in life he spent three months in the Philippines with others who were invited by President Johnson and was also in a secret think tank out West during the war (WWII).

Sometime before he died, my Dad wrote this and, on this Father's Day, I want to share it with you:

THIS IS WHO I AM
M. E. Parobek

I'm just a simple person who tries to make other people's business dreams come true. My sole interest in life is in perfecting means by which I can impart to sincere entrepreneurs the thirty-five some years of business knowledge that I have acquired through almost a lifetime of consistent study and practice of my vocation -- that of new business and industries development and implementation -- and thus help make others better qualified to conduct their own business affairs.

I'm completely out of place among "intellectuals" because I have a deep and simple respect for what my predecessors have discovered for me in fundamental truths, principles and philosophies. I abhor those who profit from the misfortunes of others and especially those parasites of human flesh which unfortunately abound in practically every community of our society.

There is much which I accept on FAITH. There are no frustrations in my life caused by imperfection of the world. I know it is a better world than I entered and I hope I have made some small contribution to that improvement because I want those who come after me to have some purpose and challenge for living.

Since it is beyond the intellectual capacity of any individual or group of individuals to understand or explain EVERYTHING that is today, there is a gap left when intellectual powers run out. Neuroses and maladjustment set in – the result is mental illness.

The know-it-all agnostic says, “I cannot accept that which cannot be proven.” What a sick man he is. The unknown is spiritual. Faith in the unknown is religion. Intellectuality plus religion equals the whole person. It is interesting that the more intellectual a person professes to be, the less religious he frequently is. It is difficult for him to accept on faith that there ever was anyone smarter than he.

It seems obvious, therefore, that there must be a balance between intellectual power and faith in the unknown. Perhaps it is this balance which creates wisdom. I am confident of this because it was the WISDOM of our forefathers that helped build this, the greatest nation on earth.

Reason is not necessarily right and, conversely, faith is not necessarily blind. I believe that the right amount of reason and the right amount of faith equal greatness. One can never tell when the balance is right for himself, but others can, and he will know what they think by the extent to which they follow him.

That is who I am – now who are you?