国際人 新渡戸稲造
- 国際人新渡戸稲造―武士道とキリスト教/花井 等
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- 「武士道」や五千円札の肖像として有名な”新渡戸稲造
”だが、ぼくもそれ以外の知識は持ち合わせていなかった。しかし、この本は、ぼくの認識を大きく広げてくれた。”幕末～明治～大正～昭和初期”に生きてきた新渡戸稲造の人生を追いながら、西欧文明を取り入れ、国際社会の一員としての地位を築いていく明治日本の歩みを、新たな一面から感じることができた。
- 明治キリスト教のくだりはおもしろい。明治時代にキリスト教を受け入れた人々は、明治維新の改革によって解体された武士階級出身、しかも佐幕系の藩とか徳川直系あるいは熊本細川藩のように、維新の際、薩長両藩に遅れをとって、どみち明治政府に対して好感を持てぬ系譜に属する武士階級が多かった、とのこと。
札幌農学校のＷ・Ｓ・クラークの影響を受けた人たちがその典型である。新渡戸稲造の親友”内村鑑三”もその一人だ。
- 先日ＮＨＫのそのとき歴史は動いたで「岩倉使節団 世界一周の旅」を見ていたときも感じたが、この明治の「国際化、近代化、西欧化」の前線で生きてきた日本の先人の衝撃の大きさは、想像できないくらい大きなものだろう。
President Barack Obama
PRESIDENT BARACK Thank you. Thank you.
CROWD: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!
My
fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us,
grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices
borne by our ancestors.
I thank President Bush for his service to our nation...
(APPLAUSE)
... as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.
The
words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still
waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering
clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not
simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but
because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our
forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That
we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at
war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy
is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the
part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and
prepare the nation for a new age.
Homes have been lost, jobs
shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools
fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we
use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These
are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less
measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our
land; a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the
next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that
the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many.
They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this
America: They will be met.
(APPLAUSE)
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On
this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false
promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long
have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the
words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The
time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better
history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed
on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are
equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full
measure of happiness.
(APPLAUSE)
In reaffirming the
greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given.
It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or
settling for less.
It has not been the path for the
faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the
pleasures of riches and fame.
Rather, it has been the
risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but
more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us
up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us,
they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans
in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled
the West, endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died in places Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time
and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till
their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw
America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater
than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is
the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful
nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this
crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services
no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our
capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of
protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions --
that time has surely passed.
Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
(APPLAUSE)
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.
The
state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act
not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.
We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.
We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality...
(APPLAUSE)
... and lower its costs.
We
will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and
run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and
universities to meet the demands of a new age.
All this we can do. All this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who
suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their
memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has
already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is
joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted
beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us
for so long, no longer apply.
MR. The question we ask today is
not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it
works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they
can afford, a retirement that is dignified.
Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.
And
those of us who manage the public's knowledge will be held to account,
to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of
day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people
and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the
market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and
expand freedom is unmatched.
But this crisis has reminded us that
without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation
cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.
The
success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our
gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the
ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of
charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
(APPLAUSE)
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
Our
founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine,
drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a
charter expanded by the blood of generations.
Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.
And
so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from
the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born:
know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and
child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead
once more.
(APPLAUSE)
Recall that earlier generations faced
down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with
the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.
They understood
that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as
we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent
use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of
our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We
are the keepers of this legacy, guided by these principles once more,
we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even
greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We'll begin to
responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard- earned peace in
Afghanistan.
With old friends and former foes, we'll work
tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a
warming planet.
We will not apologize for our way of life nor will we waver in its defense.
And
for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and
slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that, "Our spirit is stronger
and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."
(APPLAUSE)
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.
We
are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and
nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from
every end of this Earth.
And because we have tasted the bitter
swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter
stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old
hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon
dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall
reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new
era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.
To
those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their
society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on
what you can build, not what you destroy.
To those...
(APPLAUSE)
To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the
silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history,
but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
We honor them
not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they
embody the spirit of service: a willingness to find meaning in
something greater than themselves.
And yet, at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For
as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith
and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.
It
is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the
selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a
friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.
It
is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but
also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides
our fate.
Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which
we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success
depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and
curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old.
These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.
What
is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us
now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of
every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the
world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly,
firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the
spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult
task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence: the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This
is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and
children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across
this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years
ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand
before you to take a most sacred oath.
(APPLAUSE)
So let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled.
In
the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of
patriots huddled by nine campfires on the shores of an icy river.
The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.
At
a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the
father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let
it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when
nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the
country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it."
America,
in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let
us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave
once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be
said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to
let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and
with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried
forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future
generations.
Thank you. God bless you.
(APPLAUSE)
And God bless the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
中部銀次郎の言い分
- 中部銀次郎の言い分―心の鍛練でゴルフと人生を極める/児玉 光雄
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中部銀次郎 。伝説のアマチュアゴルファーである。
上記本では、中部銀次郎氏のコメントから、メンタル面のありかた、鍛錬のあり方について論じている。
書いてある内容は、セールス、プレゼン、ﾌｧｼﾘﾃｰｼｮﾝ、英語といったビジネスのスキルにも十分に活かせる。
コンビニで偶然手に取ったのだが、非常に深くておもしろい。
