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| "We have nothing to fear but fear itself... and the fiscal cliff, global warming, $16 trillion deficit, sequestration, rising oil prices... bad traffic, barking puppies, Rocky VII, out of control asteroids, Snowmageddon 2013... breaking news about the breaking news..." |
Today is the 80th anniversary of FDR's first inauguration speech...commonly referred to as the "Nothing to Fear" Speech. Considering the gridlock in American politics, the hysterical gyrations of the 24 hour news cycle, and the never ending "crisis" mode, etc...it may be good to reflect on FDR's timeless message.
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| March 4, 1933 FDR First Inaugural Address https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amNpxQANk0M |
Excerpts of FDR's speech: “This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for... We now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well...if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective.”
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| Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1882-1945 |
The overall messages (still applicable today) from this great speech include:
1. This great nation will thrive...if we focus on values.
2. Panic, hysteria, paranoia, and overreaction tend to make problems worse.
3. Despite living in hard economic times, we have much to be thankful for.
4. Political solutions to national problems requires "give and take".
5. We must depend on each other to solve our nations problems.
6. We must always consider the common good.
2. Panic, hysteria, paranoia, and overreaction tend to make problems worse.
3. Despite living in hard economic times, we have much to be thankful for.
4. Political solutions to national problems requires "give and take".
5. We must depend on each other to solve our nations problems.
6. We must always consider the common good.
"America will never be destroyed from the outside.
If we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
- Abraham Lincoln
I feel like in this another lesson applicable to today world would to not rush things if they get scary, even if it seems to be a solution, it isn't. I assume this lesson based on the quote above, "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." particularly in the last half of the sentence.
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