I have read many of your works and they have always inspired me to change in some way.

I have a comment to make about Ali. For many years I though what a great man he is and an inspiration to generations of people. He was no doubt a brilliant boxer and orator, however in a recnt documentary shown here in the UK, he was also shown to be a racist. He called Joe Frazier some terrible things before the Thrilla in Manilla, as well as behave despicably towards his wife, parading his girlfriend in front of the worlds media leaving his wife back in the US.

This led to ponder on one your other topics, Karma. I wonder if the current health issues he is suffering are a direct result of the bad stuff he said and the behaviour towards hi wife. Ali was rewarded immediately for the good stuff. He always claimed to wise, but a wise man knows when he is beat and Ali kept on fighting beyond the doctors and his agents advice.

Just some thoughs.

Paul

The question most people are afraid to ask themselves. Do I possess impeccable integrity or not?

Because of your intransigence in defending liberty and freedom, I’m sure many closed-minded individuals have penetrated your hide with darts and arrows. Heck, people have actually called me names and said I was full of the well-known bull for defending individual rights and the social system that best protects and enhances these rights, Laissez faire capitalism. I’m sure many of your readers have suffered the same fate.

How many well-intentioned individuals give up the fight, keep their mouths shut and join the crowd of non-thinkers because the crowd or those closest to them put up the shield of rejection? They sadly realize the pain of rejection is too difficult to bear. I wonder what becomes of their integrity and self-esteem. Do their minds finally atrophy into the dullness of everyday illusion?

Of course, America is spiraling down into the abyss of socialism and the accompanying despair and hopelessness that socialism must cause—because most people have banished from their minds the integrity of independent thought. A person without integrity is a person without convictions—a person controlled by the floating abstractions of non-reality.

Robert A. Meyer

Robert A. Meyer

“Every form of refuge has its price.”

-PR

This is my first time ever commenting. Never had anything worthwhile to add to the conversation… till now. I love your articles and your thoughts. We are on the same wavelength on so many things.

Anyway, in this article, you mentioned “Truth and popularity, in fact, are all too often at odds with one another.”

I think there should be a caveat there. It should be General Popularity. Yes, a person who sticks to his principled guns will, more often than not, not be popular with the general public. But that’s the thing, the keyword here is “general”… the masses.

Such a person will, however, always be popular with the members of the population who appreciate and can see the truth (always the minority).

Former Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, comes to mind when I think about this.

Although, you did show later in the article (with the Muhammad Ali example) that Truth and Popularity can become bedfellows when perceptions change, it is still General Popularity. At the time of his “conscientious objection”, there were enlightened ones who supported and identified with his action.

But hey… all of us play sheep at some point or other in our lives.

Thanks for being the voice of our conscience Robert.
May Peace Be Upon You And Yours…

Andy Iskandar

Many people (if indeed not most or all people) have flaws in their own principles, and those flaws will never be corrected if each individual is unwilling to dispassionately evaluate his or her principles on a regular and ongoing basis, and when flaws are discovered, correct them. Bad principles can in fact be worse than no principles at all.

This may, at times, *appear* to be compromise. One tool for evaluating one’s principles is to compare them to those of others, and changes one may make (which will often be to adopt some or all of that other’s principles) looks suspiciously like compromise. One should never allow such appearances — or one’s ego when contemplating such a change — to avoid the change.

Rigorous honesty with one’s self is necessary in such (as well as numerous other) changes, and the ability to honestly justify the changes are vital.

After all, Hitler stuck to *his* principles, and look at the results.

Perhaps someone should have reminded Ali that a conscientious objector won the Medal of Honor in WWII as a medic. It is possible to object to killing and still serve.

And while I have my own reservations about the Vietnam War (I’m convinced Johnson started it solely for political benefits), unlike many, I find it hard to slap the war protesters on the back for what many describe as their willingness to stand up to imperialism. One cannot have much respect for people who cheered for the other side and made it clear they had no concern for the soldiers actually fighting over there (remember Jane Fonda?).

How can one respect a person for standing on his principles when standing on those principles endangers someone else who hasn’t even done anything to him/her?

But I never saw Ali act in any way that wasn’t admirable. He only told the truth, even when it sounded like bragging. So I didn’t get the criticisms I heard, and I didn’t hear any racist ones. Therefore, as I’ve grown older my admiration for him has only grown. I especially like the way you’ve portrayed his higher level of heroism.

Now there’s something to emulate.

Your first book was very helpful when I started in the world of business… as a matter of fact, I’m typing w/ the nubs I have left!!!!
With the utmost respect,
-L