Love Curious -- Writer's Poke #359

When one of Tomek’s plans backfires, he sacrifices himself. He makes sure that the humiliation falls on him and not on the woman he loves.


Tomek works at the post office, and he develops a plan. He sends a note to the woman he watches, Magda, informing her that she has a money order waiting for pick-up at the post office. The idea works the first time, but the second time she goes to the post office only to find no money order, she asks to speak with Tomek’s manager. The manager assumes that Magda is trying to commit fraud, and Tomek chases after her to explain that he had been responsible for the whole money-order scheme.

Although Magda is not happy to learn that Tomek has been stalking her for the past year, stealing her mail, and generally harassing her, she nevertheless feels drawn to him. She agrees to go out with him for a drink, and when he tells her that he loves her, she not surprisingly questions his use of the word. At the same time, she takes pity on poor Tomek; she claims not to be a “nice woman,” but at the same time, she must be attracted to his innocence. She understands that he never intended to hurt her, and although she is directly responsible for one of her lovers punching him in the face, she never wanted to hurt him. Teach him a lesson? Maybe. Hurt him? No.

Tomek claims that he wants nothing from her. He doesn’t want to kiss her; he doesn’t want to make love to her. But what does Magda want? She claims not to believe in love, but her pull to Tomek indicates that she believes in something. Or is at least curious about something. What?

“Are you stalking me? Because that would be super.” – Ryan Reynolds

Stalking Love -- Writer's Poke #358

Tomek likes to watch. Sort of.


For the past year, Tomek has watched an older woman who lives across the courtyard in his apartment complex. He has her schedule down to the minute, and he sets his alarm to correspond to when she arrives home.

She entertains different “gentleman callers,” but Tomek isn’t interested in watching her sexual exploits. His brand of voyeurism is much more pure than that. In fact, when he can figure out a way to kill the mood, so to speak, he’ll do so. His masterpiece: calling the gas company to report a leak in her apartment. That kills the mood, for sure, and Tomek smiles at his cleverness.

His landlady is his absent-friend’s mother. She worries about his love life, but she recognizes that he’s shy, or as she describes him, “gentle.” Does she know that Tomek has a telescope in his room and has been watching a woman with it? Yes, she probably knows, but she doesn’t confront Tomek about it. Rather, she simply encourages him not to be ashamed to bring a girl over. Her not-so-subtle hints indicate that she believes that his becoming involved with a girl his own age would cure him of his nightly observations.

What exactly does Tomek gain by watching the woman across the courtyard? Would it be too much to suggest that what he’s experiencing is actually love, that he actually can “love” this woman from the distance decreased by telescope’s aid?

“There’s a fine line between serendipity and stalking.” – David Coleman

A Victim of Circumstances -- Writer's Poke #357

The death of Jacek’s sister sets in motion a change of events that leads to Jacek committing murder and receiving the death penalty. At least this seems to be the suggestion. After all, if Jacek and his friend hadn’t been drinking vodka and wine, if Jacek’s friend hadn’t accidently run over his friend’s sister, if grief did not force Jacek to leave home, he never would have ended up in a taxi cab, and he never would have had reason or opportunity to kill the driver.


From the moment of the present, it is easy to view the past as a series of unchangeable events. Each event “causes” what happens next. It would be too simplistic, perhaps, to suggest that the death of Jacek’s sister directly causes Jacek to murder the taxi cab driver, but her death does led him down a certain path he otherwise would never have travelled, and that is the real point.

Jacek’s lawyer apparently doesn’t know Jacek’s story until he meets with him one final time before his execution; however, the lawyer always assumes that such an explanation as Jacek offers exists. There must be some explanation, as people just do not go around killing other people for no reason. And the story Jacek tells convinces the lawyer that his convictions are correct. That is, Jacek does not deserve the death penalty. The taxi driver is a victim, certainly, but so is Jacek. Jacek is a victim of circumstances.

The lawyer never grieves for the taxi cab driver, but he does grieve for Jacek. In a sense, the death of Jacek’s sister has caused three deaths, but the lawyer only has the power to prevent one of the deaths – Jacek’s – and his failure to protect his client's life affects him just as much as the death of the sister affects Jacek. The lawyer and his wife have just had a son, but he must wonder if he will be equally helpless to protect him.

Jacek’s murder is a violent act, and under the law he is guilty of the crime he has committed. Explore why his lawyer is so upset. Do you agree that Jacek’s story matters? What role should previous circumstances play in the assessment of a proper punishment.

“I believe that people would be alive today if there were a death penalty.” – Nancy Reagan

Death, Destroyer of Worlds -- Writer's Poke #356

A young man named Jacek carries a heavily-worn picture of a child. Who is the child? Is it his sister? Did she die far too young in some tragic way? Perhaps the young man has never forgiven himself for her death, even though he was in no way responsible. Perhaps her death has made life meaningless.

The truth of the matter is this: the young man feels helpless. Life has no purpose. He feels as though he has no control over his life, just as he had no ability to protect the child from death. It’s by no means a rational thought, but he convinces himself that all deaths are random and beyond the control of the living.

With this thought in mind, he finds a metal pipe and some rope. He plans a random act. He will hire a taxi and kill the driver. Who is the driver? It doesn’t matter. Whoever drives the cab that picks him up will do. 

When he puts the rope around the driver’s neck, the young man discovers that death doesn’t come easily. The driver struggles, and eventually the young man finds that he must start beating the driver with his pipe. As he drags the body from the cab to a nearby lake, Jacek assumes the driver is dead, but somehow the driver lives on. 

After Jacek had hit the driver in the head with his pipe multiple times, he was so sickened by the sight of the driver’s bloodied head that he covered it with a blanket. Now he hears the driver’s gurgling pleas. “Please,” the driver says, “I beg you.” But the young man will have none of it. He must complete the killing. Knowing that the pipe didn’t do the job properly, he finds a big rock, and he slams it down purposely on the covered head. Once. Twice. Three, four, five times. 

Now the job has been completed. The young man proves to himself that he has the courage to kill. Having proven to himself that he is in control and that living has not made him into a coward, he allows a brief smile to escape. 

Is there any explanation for the young man’s actions which would cause us overlook his brutal actions?

“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” – J. Robert Oppenheimer

Order and Chaos -- Writer's Poke #355

Somehow a young man ends up at the movie theater. The ticket girl is quite disinterested in his presence. She is preoccupied with pulling the grey hairs from her head, and when he asks her if the movie is worth seeing, she tells him not to waste his time. After all, it’s just a boring romance film. He takes her advice and asks her where he can find the nearest taxi stand. Eventually, he will hire a cab, but first he will cause a little chaos by pushing a rock off an overpass. This rock will hit a car and cause a major traffic accident.

Meanwhile, a taxi driver is cleaning his taxi. He takes great care to give it a thorough cleaning; a young couple walks over to ask if the taxi is available for hire, but he rudely tells them that he is not done cleaning his cab, sending them away to wait at the taxi stand. A devil’s head hangs from his rearview mirror, and this driver certainly won’t win any customer service awards as far as the young couple is concerned. In his defense, the man likes cleanliness, and he also likes order. Customers are supposed to wait their turn.

Somewhere else in the city, a recently graduated law student is interviewing to pass his final exams. He seems uncertain about his chosen profession, and he admits to an interviewer that he isn’t sure why he wants to be a lawyer. He admits that he doesn’t subscribe to the idea that punishment acts as a good deterrent to crime, even though he knows that presenting this view may be held against him. Perhaps the uncertainty he feels about becoming a lawyer has to do with confusion about whether or not a lawyer has the ability to promote order, or even if order is an ultimate good.

Think about order and chaos. Based simply on the above character sketches, explain your thoughts about the young man, the taxi driver, and the lawyer as they relate to order and chaos.

“Good order is the foundation of all things.” – Edmund Burke

Dorota (Almost) Smiles -- Writer's Poke #354

The Doctor knows something about the temporary nature of the human condition. During World War II, he was a young man with a wife and two children. One day, he had to work a long shift at the hospital. When he called home, everything was fine. But when his shift was over and he returned home, he discovered that his home no longer existed. Bombs had left a crater in its place. His family was dead.

This is what the Doctor knows and has personally experienced; so, when Dorota explains to him that she will have an abortion if her husband, his patient, lives, he must make a choice. Dorota forces the Doctor to take responsibility for her actions; put in that position, he elects to lie, telling her that her husband will die.

In the end, Dorota’s husband does not die; however, thanks to the Doctor, she has not had the abortion. She has returned to living her life, and she has told her husband that they are having a baby. She does not tell him that the father of the child is another man’s, but allows him to believe that he in the father. The actual father of the child knew that Dorota was planning to have an abortion, and for him, that would have been a deal breaker. Although we cannot know for certain, it seems as though Dorota, with the Doctor’s help, has made her choice. She stays in the marriage and raises the child. She can’t have it all, but instead of sacrificing the child, she will sacrifice her lover.

What do you think about the lies both Dorota and the Doctor tell?

“We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.” – Stephen Covey

Handle with Care -- Writer's Poke #353

The Doctor cares about his patients. His cleaning lady, Barbara, who is also probably his closest friend, probably knows more about him than anyone. Whereas he keeps a professional distance with his patients, he tells Barbara the story of staying up with a teething baby. He does so not because he can ease the baby’s pain, but because staying up with her offers the baby comfort – the only comfort the Doctor has to give.


In other words, the Doctor is nurturer. He doesn’t like to see his patients in pain, and although he doesn’t have the power to magically make everyone better, it’s pretty clear that he is honest when he claims that he wants to do the best for the people he treats.

Dorota’s husband is one of his gravely-ill patients; she is also his neighbor. He recognizes her as the woman that ran over his dog a couple of years ago. Nevertheless, he doesn’t seem to hold a grudge about that. He has compassion for what she’s going through, and he offers her compassion – although he also doesn’t want her to take advantage of his kindness.

Dorota wants answers that the Doctor cannot provide; she would like to know whether or not her husband will recover from his illness. All the Doctor can really tell her is that the prognosis doesn’t look promising. Is his method of response appropriate? Should the Doctor do more to comfort Dorota, or should he simply maintain his professional distance?

“Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy.” – Chogyam Trungpa

Breaking the Ice of Faith -- Writer's Poke #352

Pawel and his dad performed careful calculations, and they knew that the ice would safely support someone three times Pawel’s weight. Nevertheless, the ice broke, and Pawel drowned. 

People from the apartment complex gathered around the lake to watch the emergency crews at work, but the onlookers, including Pawel’s dad and aunt, were helpless to do anything. All they could do was watch as the frozen, lifeless bodies of Pawel and two of his friends were pulled out of the icy grave. 

At the sight of the bodies, all of the onlookers, except for Pawel’s dad, began to kneel. They did so as a sign of their continued faith. Pawel’s dad remained standing because he lacked the faith to submit to the mystery of his son’s death. Although he rationally knew why all living things must die, he couldn’t fathom why someone like his son should have to die before his time. His rational understanding of death offered no comfort at this moment of tragedy.

Faith offers comfort, but are there any limitations to faith? For example, one might argue that Pawel’s dad had “faith” in his calculations, but those calculations failed him for reasons beyond his control. As an agnostic, his faith in God was not strong to begin with, but he certainly must have felt that if God exists, He had failed him as well. Why is or isn’t it appropriate for Pawel’s dad to feel this way about God?

"Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. " -- Voltaire

Camping Encounter with a One-Legged Girl

Two young Yankee men on a camping trip were walking down a rural county road in north Georgia. Hopping towards them from the opposite direction was a one-legged girl. She was easily the most beautiful girl either had ever seen.

"Howdy boys," she said. "Spend the night with me, and I'll promise you a night you'll never forget." The boys looked at each other and quickly agreed to take the girl up on her offer.

The next morning, the more forward of the two, a boy named Justin, spoke up: "Say, you're the most amazing girl I've ever known, but could you tell us what happened to your leg?"

"Sure," said the girl. "It's no secret that folks in these parts are simple. I made the mistake of telling my daddy that I wanted to go to college. He was alright with that actually, until I told him I wanted to be a horticulturalist. For that, he cut off my leg."

The boys exchanged glances. "That's unbelievable," said Justin. "You must really hate your daddy."

"I reckon I do," said the girl, "but more for what he done to my boyfriend than for what he done to me."

"What did he do to your boyfriend," asked the more shy boy, a boy named Tim.

"He done had him castrated."

"What for?" asked Justin.

"He made the mistake of telling my daddy that he wanted to go to college, too."

"For what?" asked Tim.

"To study English," replied the one-legged girl.

***

True story.

The Meaning of a Dead Dog -- Writer's Poke #351

In some ways, Pawel is your average 10 year old. He likes to race and play. He likes to skate. He’s just starting to become interested in girls.

In other ways, Pawel is anything but average. He has his own computer, but he uses it to program, not to play games. He likes story problems. And, he’s interested in finding out the purpose for living.

When Pawel discovers one of the neighborhood dogs dead, its fur frozen in the cold, it not surprisingly depresses him. More than that, however, it also causes him to consider whether or not life has a purpose. What satisfaction can he take in solving a word problem? How powerful are computers if he can’t program them to explain why the living must die?

Pawel’s dad can explain what death is from a rational point of view, but Pawel craves a deeper explanation. His father tells him that the soul is just a term people have developed to make life easier for the living, but even his aunt, who has a strong Catholic faith, probably wouldn’t disagree with that statement. Faith does make life easier, but perhaps it also makes life more fulfilling?

You have developed beliefs about death. What are they? How do people develop views about the afterlife, and why are those views important, especially for the way they live their lives?

“And so it goes.” – Kurt Vonnegut

2011 Greetings

I felt a deep sense of withdrawal yesterday -- yesterday being my first day of freedom.

Fall semester, I completed 42 credits of teaching and studenting. Man, that's a lot. Most of my students take 12 hours of classes and seem overwhelmed. Most of my colleagues teach 15 hours of classes and seem frazzled. And, of course there are the university-prof types that teach a total of three class a year and think they've overworked.

Well, whatever. By the way, what the hell is burnout?

Funny thing is, my blood pressure meds apparently numb me to stress. That's not exactly true; I feel stress, but not in the way that the average nutcase feels it. To me, it just feels like a hug. Envelope me in your busy goodness, my friend.

Winter Break is akin to Summer Break's bastard step-cousin that nobody really likes. I hate to bitch about having 3 weeks off, but it's just long enough to not fully enjoy. Not to mention, of course, that 2012 looms. One year closer to death.

Speaking of death, I plan to turn 40 in about 18 months. How did that happen? I like to assume that 40 is half-way to death, but who am I to predict? Maybe I'll live to see 2073. Now that would be a trip.

I feel a lot better today. Today, I'll finish off Mark Vonnegut's Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So, and maybe I'll finally watch the new Kylie Minogue DVD and drink those mimosas I promised myself last week to celebrate the end to another rockin' semester.

Feeling Lucky? -- Writer's Poke #350

Google’s Chinese weblink is http://www.g.cn, and it looks about as boring as the http://www.google.com we’re all used to in the U.S.  Just for the fun of it, I googled Pete Rose using the Chinese Google, and at least in Minnesota, I wasn’t blocked from receiving information about the best American baseball player of all time. In fact, the Chinese version of Wikipedia even has an entry on the Tiananmen Square Massacre. I thought that was interesting, but since it’s in Chinese, I have no idea what spin it might have; nor do I know if the average Chinese citizen has access to reading the entry.

I use Google, but it’s not my favorite search engine; I’m a Yahoo! man, and I probably always will be until they go out of business. But what if a Chinese search engine company tried to break into the American search engine market? Would I bite? Doubtful.

The Internet should be borderless, but it does seem rather odd that Google, an American company, would expect to be successful in China. After all, China has its own native search engines, and it’s difficult for me to comprehend what Google brings to the table that’s different or better than what China can home-grow.

Google’s involvement in the Chinese internet market also brings up some hairy issues, such as, is it unethical of Google to block sites because the Chinese government tells it to? In the U.S., basically anything goes as far as the internet is concerned, but why should all countries follow the U.S. model?

Sometimes it seems that the U.S. believes that all countries would be better off if they operated exactly as we do, and while some in the U.S. might support some forms of censorship, most don’t like heavy-handed political censorship. Nevertheless, China is a sovereign nation, and it has its own standards of what it will and won’t allow. It’s somewhat troubling to me that some people in the U.S. criticize Google for simply following the laws of the lands in which they operate. As if Google has any other option.

Should American companies operating in other countries follow the laws of the land? If the U.S. doesn’t condone certain policies or laws that other countries have, should our government forbid American companies from operating in those countries?

“With Google I’m starting to burn out on knowing the answer to everything. People in the year 2020 are going to be nostalgic for the sensation of feeling clueless.” – Doug Coupland

“We want Google to be the third half of your brain.” – Sergey Brin

Accent on Success -- Writer's Poke #349

Dan Rather hid his, but when he had to spend hours on TV covering an election or some other big news story, it would sometimes come to the surface. He was from Texas, you see, but since the CBS nightly news broadcast to the entire United States, his regional accent had to go.

I’m not sure that there is an “American accent,” as the television age certainly greatly contributed to the weakening of the regional voice. Nevertheless, when I moved to Minnesota, people recognized that I wasn’t a native to the state, but most weren’t very good at guessing where I was from. It made me chorkle when some guessed I was from Texas. Texas? Not bloody likely. 

When we’re calling customer service to help us with our problems, we want to be able to understand the person on the other end of the line; however, I find it humorous that Indians are being trained to speak with an American (or Canadian) accent. According to Thomas Friedman, Indians working at call centers develop “self-confidence.” Now, I think Friedman is suggesting that the job gives the Indian worker self-confidence, but it troubles me to think about the supplemental point he chooses not to focus on: Indians gain self-confidence through a loss of identity. If these customer service agents do their job optimally, then the customer will never know that they are speaking to someone from halfway around the world. In fact, although Friedman doesn’t mention this, Indians not only learn to hide their accents, but they are also provided with suitable names. Thus, Vikram, for purposes of making the customer feel more at ease, becomes Victor – or more probably, something even simpler, like Bob.

It’s the continued genericization of the world at work here. Yes, I can understand why Indians appreciate call center jobs. They pay well for the region, and they give the workers opportunities to continue their education. Friedman even suggests that they give female employees leverage when it comes to deciding who to pick as a mate. 

Is the opportunity to “transform a life” worth transforming, or losing, one’s identity? 

“Accent your positive, and delete your negative.” – Donna Karan

China at Your Doorstep, or The Devil You Know -- Writer's Poke #348

Entering a Walmart is a depressing experience for me and for that reason alone, I choose to shop at Target, or someplace that doesn’t zap my soul when I walk through the door.

Like everyone else, I like low prices, and so the few times that I have entered a Walmart over the past year, I’m always amazed by how cheap the products are. But still, it’s not enough to make me shift my shopping habits. I also wonder why Walmart has received such negative press over the past decade but other companies, such as Amazon.com, have not.

Websites exist that even make fun of the Walmart experience – and the type of customers that Walmart attracts. I’m probably guilty of having had a laugh at a Walmart customer or two, but let’s face it: some people don’t have much choice but to shop there. 

But low prices is a viscous cycle. Walmart keeps lowering the prices, jobs keep getting shipped over seas, and the middle class in America continues to shrink. With the shrinking of the middle class comes the willingness to settle for what’s cheap.

Interestingly, Levis started selling clothes at Walmart. It did so, apparently, for its own survival. But what Levis sells at Walmart isn’t quality. Levis sold its soul – and a product’s soul is its quality. Consumers may be happy enough to have Levis slapped on their butt, even if the product no longer has a soul. To me, though, this is an example of Walmart as the devil in our economy. I hate to label Walmart in such terms, because it’s somewhat unfair, but what good is lower prices if it destroys the American middleclass, removes the heart from its consumers and the soul from the businesses that sell their products there?

Do you shop at Walmart? Whether you do or don’t, what should Walmart do, if anything, to change the negative image that has developed around it over the last decade? Is there any way that it can successfully rebrand it?

“Our goal isn't to close Wal-Mart down. It is to make it a better, more humane company toward its employees and the communities it is in.” – Robert Greenwald

Ends of the Earth -- Destination #6: Honningsvag, Norway

If I had the means to visit the ends of the Earth, here are the ten places I would visit.

What ten "ends of the Earth" places would you like to visit? Leave me a comment.

Destination #6 : Honningsvag, Norway

Honningsvag, Norway is the first destination on this list reachable by cruise ship, and for some reason, I imagine Honningsvag to be a lot like Barrow, Alaska – minus the English speakers. The current population of Honningsvag is around 2300, and the area itself has had humans roaming around it for at least the past 10,000 years.

An Alaskan cruise is fun, but the two main cruise route options are the Inner Passage and the Gulf of Alaska. Both options don’t take you all that far north. Although I haven’t gotten out the ruler, I’m guessing that Honningsvag is about 700 miles further north than, say, Anchorage, because 700 miles is the approximate distance between Anchorage and Barrow. In other words, a Norwegian cruise may be a lot like an Alaskan cruise, but it goes a lot farther north -- deep into the Arctic Circle itself. Honningsvag claims the right as the Earth's northern-most city, although Barrow disputes the claim.

From what I can tell, Honningsvag makes Barrow seem like a metropolis, and I wonder what there is to do in Honningsvag while in port. On the Alaskan cruise, for example, we had a stop in Haines and elected not to take one of the ship’s planned excursions. As a result, we just walked around town, but the town wasn’t developed for tourism, to say the least. One of the highlights on our stroll around town was visiting the local hardware store, and trust me, it wasn’t all that thrilling.

Part of the thrill of visiting the ends of the Earth, though, is dealing with the fact that there sometimes may be nothing to do there. If I were going alone, I would use the experience to collect my thoughts, to write, or just to read a book. If I were going with someone else, I would use the experience just to share a collected experience. 

My wife and I didn’t exactly enjoy our visit to Haines, Alaska, for example, but it has value in that experienced it together.

A two-week Norwegian cruise that goes all the way up the coast to Honnigsvag may run around $1700 per person. I’m sure that there may be other ports in Norway more worth a visit, but Honnigsvag has value for simply being the end of the line. And according to tripadvisor, the Corner Café (rated #1 of 1) serves pretty good pizza, as well as a full “English breakfast.”

The Price of Liberty -- Writer's Poke #347

My Levis never come from the same place. I have pairs from Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, and Lesotho. No matter where they’re made, I’m charged the same price at the retailer. So when I go to J.C. Penny’s, I expect to shell out about forty bucks for a pair of jeans.


Just how many pairs of Levis can an average work produce in an hour? I googled this question, but could not find a quick answer. For sake of argument, let’s assume the answer is 10 pairs. The retail value of 10 pairs of Levis, then, is $400. Wholesale value might be $200 for 10 pairs. Material costs might be $100 for 10 pairs. Shipping and other distribution and factory-related expenses might be, what, $50 for 10 pairs? After all this, what’s left over is profit and labor expenses. So how much does the average Haitian working for Levis make per hour? Maybe 30 cents, or 3 cents per completed pair of jeans. Is that fair?

Defenders of sweatshops suggest that they are simply part of the economic development process. If Haitians don’t have sweatshops, they won’t have jobs. Thus, if they have to work 12 hours shifts, 7 days a week, if they don’t have health care, if their government doesn’t have an organization that oversees worker safety, if children under 14 are working rather than going to school, etc., who cares? At least they have jobs.

Levis, like many other products, used to be made in the USA. However, American workers demand fair labor practices – things like a 40 hour work week, benefits, a minimum wage. Apparently, Americans also demand cheap goods. Perhaps a pair of U.S.-made Levis would need to sell, retail, for $150 rather than $40. But if Americans supported fair-labor practices for everyone, wouldn’t this be a small price to pay? If consumers were willing to pay more for U.S.-made goods, it would not only protect workers here at home, but perhaps it would also help workers currently slaving away in sweatshops, because honestly, a sweatshop worker is nothing more than a slave, and while no sane person defends slavery in the 21st century, apparently it’s still acceptable to defend sweatshops.

The argument that “sweatshops are better than the alternative” doesn’t hold water. If the alternatives to sweatshops stink, then address the alternatives. The right to basic human rights should not end at the U.S. border, and American consumers should be willing to pay the price to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to live a better life. If the best the people of Haiti and elsewhere can do is 80 hour workweeks at 30 cents an hour, that’s not good enough, and we should not try to make ourselves feel better that we our the reasons that they have such “opportunities.”

Should U.S. consumers be willing to pay more for goods to protect workers, or is the bottom-line at checkout what we should be most concerned about?

“Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” – Patrick Henry