Mark Gilroy

Bringing Books to Life!

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

Take the first step of faith.You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved
in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
I have decided to stick with love.
Hate is too great a burden to bear.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance
and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.
Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of education.
To be a Christian without praying is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.
Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what’s important.
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”

The Magic of Voting for the First Time in a Presidential Election

This is my 10th time to vote in a presidential election, going back to Carter v. Ford, less than three months after my eighteenth birthday. This is presidential election #1 as a voter for my youngest son Zach. I’m proud he took the time to register and vote! I hope taking this picture wasn’t illegal!
an 18-year-old votes in his first presidential election.

 

I Have a Bad Case of PEFS – Presidential Election Fatigue Syndrome

My first year to vote in a presidential election was 1976 – Carter v. Ford. I was a freshman in college and stayed up most of the night – at least until coverage ended, which was probably two o’clock or so – back when there were three main channels and a couple fuzzy ones that required constant fiddling with the rabbit ears or that UHF loop in the middle.

I really enjoy presidential elections. In fact, Amy and I held watch parties for all three presidential candidate debates and the VP debate that was … uh … well … unusual. (I say that will all respect and a really big smile.)
I’m not a news junkie as a rule – unless its football season – but I scan a couple of subscriptions and read a blog or article or two most days of the week. But during a presidential election campaign I have one of the cable news channels on almost every night and read a couple articles every day. I love listening to the pundits parse every phrase and analyze poll updates. In detail.
The problem with this election, the 2012 Romney v. Obama election campaign, is that it has gone so long. The GOP nomination process was closely fought and lasted until June – a marathon contest that started in earnest more than a year ago with what seemed like a couple hundred debates. As long as the Republicans stayed in the news cycle, good or bad, the Democrats weren’t going to be left out of the conversation and were running political ads as early as late winter and early spring – basically long enough to have a baby.
I love this stuff and I even know who is going to win the election and why. But I’m finally there. I am tired of the campaign and am ready for next Tuesday to get here. I officially have PEFS – presidential election fatigue syndrome.
I’ll still watch coverage and stay up  too late tonight. And tomorrow night. The cure doesn’t arrive until November 6. Well, actually sometime around three or four a.m. on the seventh!