All posts by Richard K. Munro

BIOGRAPHY: Richard K. Munro April 4, 2023 I am a retired teacher of English, Spanish & history. I taught in public and Catholic schools for over 34 years. I am a California Certified teacher of Social Studies, Spanish and English. I was a Mentor Teacher in the Kern High School District. I hold a BCC (Bilingual Certificate of Competence). I have always been interested in foreign languages and bilingualism probably from the time as a young man realized that the Roman Empire was a de facto bilingual empire (Latin and Greek) and from the experiences of my father who spoke Spanish and Tagalog as a US Army officer during World War 2. My father encouraged me to study Spanish as it was a practical and important universal language. I attended public schools in New Jersey excelling in AP US history and AP Spanish. At the recommendation of my high school Spanish teacher, I began my university studies in Soria, Spain with the University of Northern Iowa. We American students lived with Spanish families and pledged not to speak English with each other or anyone else for the entirety of the course (10 weeks). I became aware of the value of total immersion in a foreign language. I am fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and have a good competency and reading knowledge of Latin, Italian, and many other languages. In my retirement, I am studying Greek via DUOLINGO and Teach Yourself Books. Like my father, uncles, and other relatives who served during WW2, I volunteered to serve in the US military. I hold an honorable discharge from the US Marines. My parents were naturalized Americans and the first in their families to graduate from high school and go on to college. During WW2 my immigrant grandfather help build US Navy ships and Liberty Ships. My parents and grandparents impressed upon me from an early age the importance of national unity, patriotism and deep gratitude for the opportunities America has afforded us. My specialty became English literacy for newcomers (emphasizing phonics, diction, and grammar) and sheltered English immersion Social Studies (history) for English learners. I believe in voluntary high-quality Dual Immersion instruction and the importance of the teaching foreign languages. My daughter is a Dual Immersion Spanish/English k-6 teacher and my son is a AP Spanish teacher 9-12. I am married with three children. My wife is an immigrant and a naturalized US citizen. For many years I was an AP Reader in Spanish (adjunct faculty) for ETS. In 2004-2005 I was the ISI Renshaw Fellow at UVA and a University Supervisor. I taught at Bakersfield College for four years as an adjunct professor in Spanish. I have a New Wine Credential; I taught high school catechism in English and Spanish for over 20 years. I voluntarily tutored many immigrants pro bono for citizenship tests and for those who attended junior college. My wife and I have co-sponsored immigrant families in our community who have gained US residency. I studied history, political science, and Spanish at NYU (BA with honors) and was awarded the Helen M Jones Prize in history. I achieved my 5th Year teaching certificate at Seattle University and was certified as English teacher as well as Spanish and Social Studies. I hold an MA in Spanish Literature from the University of Northern Iowa. In addition to teaching, I have worked in private industry as a tour guide, a construction worker and as a customer service representative for the Bank of America (five years). I have published articles in newspapers, Military History magazine, Calliope, and Cobblestone. I was author of “Spying for the Other Side, KIM PHILBY” which appeared in the McGraw Hill Anthology of World History. I have authored one-act plays for youth such as "Euripides' Trojan Women” (Calliope),"Romans on the Rhine", "Clad in Gold Our Young Mary" , "Beneath Alexandria's Sapphire Sky" among others. I have edited galleys of several books and have done research for authors notably Andrew Roberts in CHURCHILL WALKING WITH DESTINY and his THE LAST KING OF AMERICA: GEORGE III. I began my career primarily as a Spanish teacher specializing in Spanish for Native Speakers and AP Spanish and AP Spanish Literature teaching in Washington State and California. However, I also coached sports (baseball and soccer), advised for the local “We the People team” and filled in by teaching the occasional summer ESL or US history class. As a bilingual teacher of course, I attended meetings and conventions for bilingual teachers. There Stephen Krashen and others taught that a student could be taught Math, Social Studies, Language Arts and Science in their native languages (rather than English) and that knowledge and literacy would “transfer.” I came to call this Phoney Bilingual Education or NENLI (Non-English Native Language Instruction) Many teachers I met favored a “late exit” approach which meant keeping students in so-called bilingual classes deep into high school. I was skeptical. For me 1995-1996 was the turning point. I was asked to fill in for three ESL classes that had been previously taught by another bilingual teacher. I was shocked by what I found. The students were reading mostly in Spanish and doing journals (in ungrammatical Spanish) only. The students chatted in Spanish the whole period and English was rarely if ever heard. I was told the goal of ESL classes was literacy. I clashed with the local administrator who would not provide me English language dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries or English language material. I bought a box of American heritage dictionaries out of my own pocket and taught using newspaper articles and comics. I protested that the student transcripts indicated the classes were English classes so they should be taught and tested in English for those classes. To do otherwise was, in my opinion, intellectually dishonest, even fraudulent. I continued to inform myself and read books and articles by Linda Chavez and Rosalie Porter especially FORKED TONGUE by Porter. At the time our high school graduation rate was falling and one of the major reasons was students could not pass 11th grade US history or 12th grade Government and Economics. The Bilingual Coordinator had the answer: alternative paths mini-classes (all in Spanish) via Migrant Education. I was asked to teach US history and World History with Spanish language history books. These books were ordered via supplementary budgets and so evaded the normal book approvals via the district. I refused to use those books. Instead, I volunteered to teach US history with English language books (with numbered paragraphs and bilingual glossaries). The school was very divided on this issue; I had at one time the support of the Social Studies chairmen and the school principal but not the vice principal and bilingual coordinator. I was very successful, and the students were very grateful. In one history class, every single student passed his or her English proficiency test and graduated from high school. Over time, however, I became increasingly at odds with the Bilingual Establishment some of whom accused me, publicly, for being a “racist”, “English-only”, a “white supremacist” and “anti-immigrant.” I responded of course that my conscience was clear as I had dedicated my life to help immigrants and newcomers of many races and religions, spoke Spanish and other languages, and that my wife was an immigrant! In 1997 Ron Unz came to our town to promote his new referendum English for the Children. To my surprise, I felt sympathy for most of what he said and so volunteered. I actively campaigned with Unz , Henry Gradillas, and Jaime Escalante in English and Spanish for Bilingual Education reform with English for the Children in California 1997-1998. I helped produce bilingual radio commercials and appeared on Spanish-language and English-language television. During this period I met Rosalie Porter and later worked with her as an advisor in the successful English for the Children campaigns in Arizona and Massachusetts. I have been associated with ProEnglish for many years as an advisor eventually being invited to join the Board of PRO-ENGLISH. I believe local communities should have some choice as to what kind of educational programs they want to provide and what languages they teach. I also deeply believe in La Conviviencia. La Conviviencia is an almost untranslatable Spanish concept. It means living, communicating and working together and thereby gaining mutual respect and comprehension. I believe in La Conviviencia; we must live together as good neighbors. We have many problems in this world, even enemies; but with our neighbors and friends we should live in peace. I believe in the policy of the Buen Vecino (the Good Neighbor) and in la Conviviencia (peaceful coexistence) of different cultures, languages, and religions. Diane Ravitch wrote “a society that is racially diverse requires…a conscious effort to build shared values and ideals among its citizenry.” This includes the recognition that English is and should be our official national language. The language of the rule books, Federal courts and juries must be in English. In addition, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, contracts, official documents, our laws and constitutions must be in English though translations can be provided. I believe English should be the official and national language of the United States. I do not believe we can or ought to be an officially bilingual or multilingual nation. This does not mean in any sense that languages other than English should not be taught or used, however. It should be clear that I have never been an English-only person but a multilingual person who is pro-immigrant and believes in voluntary multilingualism. America needs English but it also needs knowledge of other languages for cultural and educational reasons as well as for national security reasons. My entire family is multilingual and multicultural, and I hope we carry on this heritage into future generations of American Munros and Mendozas in a prosperous, peaceful and United States of America.
Republic of Letters

RUBEN NAVARETTE: nuggets of personal advice and wisdom with MUNRO’s Addenda and Commentary

April 20, 2023

MUNRO: I have known Ruben for almost thirty years and have corresponded with him on and off for all those years. I have always respected him and I think he respects me too even though I have been controversial or unpopular in certain quarters at times.

RUBEN NAVARETTE https://rubennavarrette.com/

In my remarks at Fresno State, I shared with students 25 “nuggets” of personal advice and wisdom.

learned these things the hard way from 35 years of knocking around in — and being knocked around by — a splendid yet difficult self-made career in media, journalism and storytelling.

1)- Follow your passion 

MUNRO: Every person must find where his or her talent lies so they can develop expertise and also develop his or her talents.  It is sad when people never find out what they TRULY LIKE and WHAT THEY ARE TRULY GOOD AT.

2) Be curious   

MUNRO Albert Einstein wrote: “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day.

—”Old Man’s Advice to Youth: ‘Never Lose a Holy Curiosity.'” LIFE Magazine (2 May 1955) p. 64”

3) Find mentors

MUNRO: “Your goal […] is to be less a product of the times and to gain the ability to transform your relationship to your generation. A key way of doing this is through active associations with people of different generations. If you are younger, you try to interact more with those of older generations. Some of them, who seem to have a spirit you can identify with, you can try to cultivate as mentors and role models. Others you relate to as you would your peers- not feeling superior or inferior but paying deep attention to their values, ideas, and perspectives, helping to widen your own.”
― Robert Greene THE LAWS OF HUMAN NATURE

4) Take risks

MUNRO You have to take risks but they should not be wild chances.  And you should never put the financial security and stability of your family at risk.  It is why it is easier and better to take chances and travel when you are young and single.   In my youth, I served in the Marines,  lived and worked abroad, worked in construction.  I still took risks when I was married and with children but measured risks. I always maintained health insurance for my family had savings and credit available.  I had one car and it was free and clear.

5) Live in other states

MUNRO: I went to school in New York and New Jersey (Seton Hall college and NYU).  With the American Military College,  four summers with the University of Northern Iowa (in Spain), and Seattle University (5th Year Teaching Certificate k-12 plus credential in English, Social Studies and Spanish.

I served in the Marine Reserves in New Jersey, Virginia, Spain, Italy, Greece.  Earned Bilingual Certificate of Competence.    Graded AP Spanish exams for 14 summers as an adjunct professor in Cincinnati and San Antonio (Texas).   Studied and worked one year at the University of Virginia while on sabbatical.  Mentored young teachers and helped them find placements.

5) Travel more in the U.S. & throughout the world      

MUNRO:             I have traveled to 47 states and Puerto Rico (never been to Idaho, Alaska or Hawaii) plus many countries in Latin America and Europe. I lived for a while in Portugal, Spain and Ireland.  

6) Harness “people power” by building relationships

MUNRO
NETWORKING.   Networking is very important and I struggled with this because I came from a first-generation family -my father was the only one in his family to go to college and have a professional career and we were somewhat alienated from our American neighbors and community.   I had no real connections or “palanca” as the Spanish say. My father was disabled by a stroke when he was 63 and I felt I had to make my own way in the world -which I did. I paid my own way through graduate school and bought my first house (a condominium in Kirkland, Washington).   But it took me ten years to get my teacher’s credential and thirteen to get my MA. 

Through hard work and struggle I finally made some contacts via ETS (AP),  Ron Unz , Linda Chavez, ED Hirsch,jr, Diane Ravitch, Jaime Escalante, Rosalie Pedalino Porter.    Letters of recommendation from administrators and Mentor teachers plus some of these well-known educators and authors helped get me a Fellowship at UVA. Later I had a chance to research and edit books for authors such as ANDREW ROBERTS (Walking with Destiny a biography of Churchill) Through Andrew Roberts and the GILBERT HIGHET SOCIETY I have met many authors , journalists and teachers and have corresponded with them (Such as Victor Davis Hanson), Having contacts is very important. Churchill was a master at this and so is Andrew Roberts.

I founded the AP program at my high school in SPANISH, AP US HISTORY and AP US GOVERNMENT.  in the beginning years we funded all the books and exam fees by selling chocolates. They said our kids (Arvin High) couldn’t do it and that it couldn’t be done but we did it.

I helped my high school win awards via the We the People program. I published some one act plays and articles in magazines and newspapers.  Then I leveraged this into a job and fellowship at the University of Virginia.   This helped me max out my credits but proved a dead end because many of the professors were hostile -actually hated E D Hirsch  (though he had been at UVA but via the ENGLISH DEPARTMENT not the Curry School of Education).  

I found many of the professors to be anti-Catholic and deeply biased. So it was not entirely a happy experience and I was away from my family for almost a year. Fortuately I spent Thanksgiving and Easter with a Scottish cousin in Maryland and also took time out to visit Scottish friends in Scotland (who still write to me!)

 In a year I did not make one friend or any useful connection and was glad to go when my time was up. 

My advisor said, “You are stuck with me and if it had been up to me you wouldn’t be here.”  I did not even see her the last six months I was at the school.  She would not admit me to her classes. I was personal non grata chiefly because of my military background and supposed political stance.

“But now let’s talk about your network, which is made up of the people you know–family, friends, acquaintances, current and former coworkers, teachers, and neighbors–and the people they know. These people may be able to help you get informational interviews. And they might even be able to get your resume on the right person’s desk. If, when I refer to networks, you feel, Lady, I don’t have one, I want you to visualize the person who comes to mind when I say, Who cared about you? You can begin to build your network by simply checking back in with this person. Tell them what you’re up to and ask how they’re doing, too. Share your thoughts about where you might be headed in life. Get their feedback and advice. And with all respect due, ask if they’d be willing to help with whatever your next step might be. Their help could be as simple as just telling you that they believe in you so that you can believe in yourself too, or being listed as a reference, or writing you a letter of support. If your life has been such that you do not have much of a network, I want you to recognize that you may actually have different strengths, like the wherewithal to hustle and make good use of whatever resources you can find.”
― Julie Lythcott-Haims,  YOUR TURN HOW TO BE AN ADULT.

7) Learn to tell your own story 

MUNRO
We all have experiences and stories and we should pass on some this experience to our friends and family and if we are able to a wider community.  I gained a lot of experience working with English for the Children but also I made a lot of permanent enemies in my district particularly among Union leaders.   The main reason is I opposed the Educational Establishment and openly opposed the Union on the issue of bilingual education reform.   I was assailed as a “White Supremacist”, “English-only racist”and “anti-immigrant.”  They hated the fact I taught Spanish and recruited along with Jaime Escalante Spanish-speaking students and parents to support our campaign. The hated the fact that I opposed the Union position (considered disloyal).  They said over and over I spoke for myself as an individual and not for the Union or the School District.   Most teachers and administrators were afraid to support me publicly.   My wife and I were principal writers and translators for the English for the Children Campaign and I wrote and recorded ads in Spanish and English with Sherrie Annis (wife of Howard Kurz).  We interpreted for immigrant families.  We contributed out time and effort without any remuneration. Yet the Union paid big bucks to Stephen Krashen (whom I met and debated).   Krashen was surprised that I knew his work and respected it and that I had not political ambitions for myself.   He was surprised that I sincerely only cared about students.  Unlike Union leaders he was not nasty or hostile to me and invited me to have a coffee and a chat with him (which I did).   The president of Cal State Bakersfield walked out in a public forum with other professors as he didn’t want to listen to or encourage a “Right Wing Nativist Extremist like me”.  Of course, I am not anti-immigrant. I am a political moderate. I am not an extremist.   My chief motivation was to promote standards and academic integrity for students. My parents were immigrants, my wife is an immigrant, my son-in-law is an immigrant my daughter-in-law is an immigrant.  My wife and I sponsored an immigrant family -all US residents and citizens today.  We did not want to see that family separated and the educational opportunities of the son limited.  Other people talk but we acted IMMEDIATELY to protect a family and guarantee no family members would be arrested and deported. The son went to college and became a minister.  I am not against VOLUNTARY DUAL IMMERSION or bilingual education.   I had a big argument with some of Ron Unz’s supporters.  I said if you don’t have waivers for parents to keep their children in bilingual programs they want I and most teachers could never support prop 227.  So we continued with Dual Immersion bilingual education in 1998 and we still have it today. Nothing changed at my daughter’s school SHERMAN ACADEMY in San Diego except that for a number of years parents needed to sign a form once a year.   They no longer have to sign a waiver which is fine with me.  I just believed in high standards and absent qualified dual immersion/bilingual teachers districts should offer sheltered English immersion as an alternative to bilingual programs that didn’t really exist.  And of course, all of my grandchildren are Mexican-American and go to bilingual dual immersion schools. I haven’t a nativist bone in my body.   But to this day there are Union activists for whom I am, to put it mildly a persona non grata.  People like that walk past me and don’t even respond to me.  But when you stand up for something you are going to pay a price.  I have no regrets.  I think I helped kids.  I never did anything in education that harmed kids.

8) Ask others to tell you their stories, and soak them up  

MUNRO:

You can’t learn everything from books or from your own experience.  It is important to get others to share their stories and experiences. Recently a teacher told me the problems he was having in his school district with his department chair and local administrators.  I told him to cool it.   To keep his head down and not challenge the establishment.  It is best in such an unequal struggle to beat a strategic retreat.  I encouraged him to apply to another district and vote with his feet which is what he did.   And I said know there are some battles you cannot win.

—

9) REIN IN YOUR EGO, BE HUMBLE

MUNRO
You have to have humility because NOT ALL CAN BE KNOWN and we are sometimes WRONG.   We shouldn’t be ashamed to admit we made mistakes because that is another way of saying we may be sadder and may have experienced defeats and disappointments but that we are a little wiser today than we were yesterday.  

10) Build your resilience  

MUNRO Yes, you have to “roll with punches” as my old mother used to say.  Many a good horseman has fallen off and gotten back on again.  As Burns sang “ But Man is a soger (soldier), and Life is a faught (battle; fight).

11) Persevere, get up off the mat when you get flattened

MUNRO
There are few reputations more storied and none more deserving than that of Marine Corps Recruit Training. The difficulties of Marine Corps boot camp are legendary.   It is not enough to simply endure, you must prevail as an individual and as a unit.  You learn teamwork. Pulling together to prevent all from falling apart. Tapping into the purpose that brought you here, to serve the Marine Corps and for the Nation you fight for.  

I always was motivated to defend and protect my family, my church, my students my community and my nation.  Nobody had to pay me to tutor kids on Saturdays or after school.   That’s why students are and were loyal to me because I was not motivated except by love friendship and civic virtue.  I am proud of my certifications and university degrees but proudest of having served in the Marine and earned an honorable discharge as a “peace time ice-cream Marine.”  I neve claimed I was a hero but I did serve honorably with heroes.   My Marine experience made me tougher, more punctual, and able to work 16-hour days seven days a week when necessary unloading rail cars, and digging ditches to help build homes and apartments.  Of course, learning self-defense came in handy on a few occasions.  Once I saw a big brute beating a student and pounding him against a concrete wall.  I only said, “Hey, what’s going on?”  And the brute assaulted me and tried to choke me and knock me down.  I broken his hold, knocked him down and put him in a full-nelson. He yelled and threatened to cut me with his knife.   I told him calmly “Try it and I will break your neck in self defense. Maybe I have killed men before. Think about that.   I learned this hold at Marine Corps OCS in Quantico. “  He settled down until the police came.  What bugged me the most was no one wanted to admit they were witnesses to what happened even the victim.  Why?  Because the brute was a drug dealer collecting money and had a reputation for viciousness and brutality.  But one thing I learned in the Marines is we all have one powerful weapon and that is our life and if we are prepared to sacrifice it we can save others and maybe ourselves.

12) Seek out different takes on issues from family & friends.  

MUNRO We had a lot of disagreements in our family with prop 208 (traditional marriage) and abortion (my wife and I believe in parental consent and notification for minors).  Our basic sympathies are pro-life and pro-family but we can peacefully coexist with fewer restrictions on abortion or somewhat stricter restrictions. But others are strongly ProChoice.  But we don’t favor outlawing or criminalizing abortions.  So I really believe we are Pro-Choice and Prolife   We believe most abortions should be legal but that they should also be rare because abortion is not to be used for birth control,  To us miscarriages and abortions are tragedies.  Also we can peacefully coexist with Gay Marriage (all civil marriages are equal under the law) But we have an array of opinions in our family.

I believe your have to inform yourself via a variety of sources so I read our local paper and subscribe to  WSJ plus via podcasts or the internet read or hear, the London Times, the Daily Telegraph,  the Washington Post, and the New York Times, Reader’s Digest and Commentary magazine.   I discuss issues of the day with family and friends.   I know we don’t always agree.    Many are dead set against RFK jr even being on the ballot but I feel trying to keep Trump off the ballot or blocking RFK Jr from being on the ballot is undemocratic and a mistake.  I remember Eugene McCarthy was kicked off the ballot of a technicality in New York State in 1976; in New Jersey, he was on the ballot and Ford won that state by a narrow margin. So there is no question a 3rd Party could tip an election one way or another. I don’t know if I would vote for RFK Jr (I admit I loved his father and uncle) but I support his right to be on the ballot.  If you don’t like him don’t vote for him.  I tolerated Trump but did not vote for him and I tolerate Biden (but think he is too old for the job).   Personally, I wish both candidates would go away.   It is a relief to know that in 2028 neither one will be on the ballot.

13) Stay ambitious, but also be content with what you have

MUNRO:

This is the virtue of moderation.  We need bread but we do not live by bread alone.  We need shelter and transportation but we do not need great luxuries.  Burns also sang “Contented wi’ little, and cantie wi’ mair (singingly  cheerful with more),

14) Always do what scares you most

MUNRO We are always scared at times but we must live each day with courage

15) Talk to strangers

MUNRO Yes, you never know what they might know or where they came from. Unless they are threatening be polite and friendly especially to young people.

16) Listen, listen, listen 

MUNRO “There is an old saying God gave man two ears and one mouth meaning we should listen more than we talk a lot more.

17) Consider the possibility that you’re wrong     

MUNRO Yes, by their fruits they shall be known but there is much mystery in the world and many paths. It’s possible that smartphone use in classrooms, APEX classes, ZOOM classes and AI will make educational standards higher than ever.   But I am skeptical.  I believe in index cards,  oral testing, note taking,  cursive essays.  At the very least there should be alternative ways of learning and testing.

18) Be willing and ready to change your position

MUNRO Yes, we have to adapt and make peace with the world and new technologies Somethings can’t be cured and so must be endured. But I am glad I am not young anymore. But I will admit some things I won’t change very easily. My love of America. My love for the Marine Corps. My love for the Dodgers and baseball. My great affection and loyalty to the Roman Catholic church in which I was baptism and married. But political parties? Be damned. They are at best a necessary evil and often are evil and corrupt.

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-19) – Get all the education you can, early on in life  

MUNRO:

NEVER STOP LEARNING and READING and LISTENING TO OTHERS WISER AND MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE THAN YOU. “The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”
― T.H. White,  The Once and Future King

“If we are to use the words ‘childish’ and ‘infantile’ as terms of disapproval, we must make sure that they refer only to those characteristics of childhood which we become better and happier by outgrowing. Who in his sense would not keep, if he could, that tireless curiosity, that intensity of imagination, that facility of suspending disbelief, that unspoiled appetite, that readiness to wonder, to pity, and to admire?”
― C.S. Lewis,  An experiment in Criticism.

“Books were her refuge. Having set herself to learn the Russian language, she read every Russian book she could find. But French was the language she preferred, and she read French books indiscriminately, picking up whatever her ladies-in-waiting happened to be reading. She always kept a book in her room and carried another in her pocket.”
― Robert K. Massie, Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

“Whereas Taft discouraged the young Yale student from extracurricular reading, fearful it would detract from required courses, Roosevelt read widely yet managed to stand near the top of his class. The breath of his numerous interests allowed him to draw on knowledge across various disciplines, from zoology in philosophy and religion, from poetry and drama to history and politics.”
― Doris Kearns Goodwin,  THE BULLY PULPIT

20) Be grateful for all you have, and the people in your life.

MUNRO Gratitude is a high virtue. As Yeats wrote “No man has ever lived that had enough Of Children’s gratitude or woman’s love.”  

The most difficult part of life is gaining wisdom and a sense of gratitude for all we do have and for the time of good health we do have. The most difficult thing about life is that we have to, sooner or later, say goodbye to those whom we love. Either they will leave us or we will leave them. We should love each other and appreciate each other NOW, this hour, this day, this week, this month this year.

My mother and father died at the beginning of the 20th century now long ago!  I am very grateful for my wife, my family, my grandchildren.  I am grateful for the many students many thousands by now-I have had over 34 years of classroom teaching.  I am grateful to those who have become teachers themselves or other service professions such as nursing, medicine, law enforcement or military service.  This includes my daughter and my son who are both Spanish and dual immersion teachers.  The highest-ranking  NCO in the Air Force was my former student and four years on the Varsity Soccer team.  We are still friends.  

We should thank some people for merely living at the same time as we do.  I am thankful for my parents and grandparents it was a miracle they survived 1914-1945.  I am grateful for the fact I met my Spanish teacher and that he introduced me to Spanish culture and language and to my Spanish wife and her family.   I will remember him for all my life -and he was an immigrant and an exile and a great and good man.

21) Choose carefully who you marry, what you do, where you do it  

MUNRO This second part is good sense and moderation.  The first part needs more commentary and explanation.

Frank Delaney, the Irish novelist wrote: “Marriage is very important. Marrying a girl is the most important thing a man can do. Never mind business or politics or sport or any of that, there’s nothing so vital to the world as a man marrying a woman. That’s where we get our children from, that’s how the human race goes forward. And if it’s too late for children, there’s the companionship of a safe and trusted person.”

AGREE this is a topic I have thought about and written about on a number of occasions.  When I taught Economics in high school I always point out that merely on an economic basis the person whom we marry will have a great influence not only on our happiness and health but our economic future. 

There are at least six reasons NOT TO MARRY (a gentleman thinks of such things for himself , his charges and his friends).

#1 Don’t marry someone you don’t really know. If you are pressured to rush to the altar as my Uncle Norman was you have to ask yourself. “What is the reason for the rush?” If he or she truly cares they will give you time to be sure.

#2 Don’t ever marry someone you don’t like or have anything in common with BESIDES sex and physical attraction. Everyone I have ever known married someone with whom he or she felt a strong sexual attraction. I could be wrong but this is the easiest part of a relationship. Speaking as a man, most women 16 to 60 are sexually attractive at some point in their lives. Once again, speaking from personal experience, most women hit their peak attractiveness from age 25 to about 42. Most women, just like most men, unless they work very hard at it, start to lose the battle of the bulge in their 40’s. Once again, perhaps it is just me, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. If I compare the looks of my friend’s wives who are excessively thin they seem more pinched, more wrinkled and less attractive with each passing year. Other women, with a more matronly look, remain very pleasant to be with and to look at.

Some women are astonishingly beautiful for a short period of time and others have a high lifetime batting average and remain attractive for a longer period of time. There is such a thing as growing old gracefully. The bottom line is if you can’t respect the behavior, habits and values of your potential mate, rethink the situation. What will it be like with this person once the haze of romantic love fades? Could you love your wife (once again, speaking as a man) if she lost her size 6 figure? Let’s face it multiple pregnancies and the years usually wreak havoc with a woman’s figure. And time does not remain still for any of us in any case.

It is a mistake to marry for beauty alone, a very big mistake.

#3 If the people around you who know you well and love you –your parents, siblings, close relatives, teachers, and wise friends- are counseling you against marriage to a certain person, you must pause. Although they don’t know your potential spouse as well as you do, they are not as emotionally mixed up as you are by the strong sexual attraction or romantic feeling you have for that other person. This is particularly true if the couple is sexually active (which I counsel against but I am a realist). Nothing fools you that you have to have your spouse like an active sex life before marriage. I wonder what purpose a honeymoon serves for people like that? And why even wear white? But if people around you are expressing doubts you should at least give yourself some time to think about what you are doing.

Imagine, for example, if your spouse had no money, lost all of his or her teeth and gained 100 pounds. My father always said to me that I should look at the mother of the potential bride because it was a reasonable indication of what the daughter would look like in 25 or 30 years with 25, 30 or 50 additional pounds. I would add another proviso too.

I don’t think it is important to marry for money and position. I think marrying for personal happiness and family reasons are the most important. But that having been said there is something one should always consider. It is one thing to marry someone who has next to no money but it is another to marry someone with extravagant tastes and $50,000 in debt!!!! Most marriages fall apart for two basic reasons: lack of sexual compatibility and financial distress.

#4 building upon that last point. Never marry anyone in whom there are signs of unstable behavior. If your beloved needs to be drunk or high to have a good time, I think it is a serious cause to worry. If he or she can never hold down any kind of job at all in the last few years find out why. Can’t he or she get along with the boss or with coworkers.. Is the discipline of work too much for him or her? Once again, I have never been a great success in life but I have always worked. I worked my way up from being an ex-soldier, a laborer in construction and unloading rail cars to sales, to being a bank employee, then finally a Community College instructor and high school teacher. No one has ever asked me for my resume or offered me a job but I have always been respected as someone who was a hard worker, honest and loyal and have so always been gainfully employed in my life.

#5 And lastly to reiterate a point mentioned before if your primary drive for getting married is an overpowering urge to have –or continue to have –sex with this person, STOP. Sex is important for a good marriage but sex is NOT love.

It is absurd to overvalue physical love. Speaking as a man, men are beasts and I think it is true to say, that in the dark, as has been said, women are all the same if that’s all you want from a woman. But once again that is not love. Real love is sharing laughter, sharing experience, sharing children, sharing affection, trust. Physical love (eros) can provide the spark and the glue for the beginning of a relationship but it cannot provide the substance. Being in love and having love in a marriage is something other and something more than being sexually aroused. Not all desire is love though it may always be lust. The desire for a woman period might just be lust but the desire for a specific woman is another. Some people say this is love too but I do not ; love that is merely transitory and sexual is not love merely as Anthony Burgess called it in A Clockwork Orange, “the old in and out”.

I have seen many successful marriages between mature males (25 or so )with young women as young as 18 or 19. I believe that male and female should be about the same age though there is nothing wrong with a woman being slightly older (my wife was 27 when we married and I was 26). 

#6 Never get married because you feel you have to or everyone else is getting married. It is chivalrous to treat your date with respect. It is foolishness to marry someone because OOPS she says she is pregnant. I have known friends who married their pregnant girlfriends but did not know if they were the father. That is no way to start a marriage. Once again fidelity and trust are the basis of any good relationship. 

22) Don’t waste time, value it; it’ll run out, just watch

MUNRO TRUE we are all mortal. Treasure time because time is fleeting.   “Swiftly flow the years!” 

23) Listen for the knock at the door, the next opportunity  

MUNRO  YES THIS IS TRUE  especially when one is younger though at my age my chief preoccupation is to spend time with my family, especially my grandchildren.   I don’t want to travel anywhere really except to see my family.   I have seen much of the world.  At my age I just read what I want say what I want study what I want write what I want.   I am not eager to influence people or make a lot more money.

24) Read and listen to different points of view in the media

MUNRO  VERY TRUE and I made comments on this earlier.

25) a bad list, eh? But what would you add? Name one thing.

MUNRO ONE THING I would add:    

TAKE CARE OF CREDENTIALS AND DOCUMENTATION.

  1. I have a passport and a passport card (and birth certificate)
  2. I have a baptismal certificate and a marriage certificate
  3. I have my honorable discharge from the Marines.
  4. I have my driver’s license
  5. I have copies of my diplomas and transcripts
  6. I have a copy of my teaching credential.
  7. I have life insurance and my house is in a living trust
  8. My daughter has passwords to my media accounts and social media. 
  9. I have a last will and testament 
  10.  I have made a basic inventory of my personal property for my children to help them dispose of it when I am part of Yesterday’s Seven Thousand Years.  I have small bit of cash on hand in a special place.
  11. Most have sentimental value only photos, letters but other things have some small monetary value (books, autographed baseballs, coins, original artworks, museum ) replicas) My  mother’s upright piano.
Republic of Letters

HOW TO HANDLE DISAPPOINTENTS AND NEGATIVE FEELINGS

BY RICHARD K MUNRO

When I feel disappointed or have negative feelings I turn to literature. I like to re-read Stoic Philosophers and the Bible. I have a wonderful little book called LINCOLN’S DEVOTIONAL which was edited by Carl Sandburg. I also write little quotes in the book which I review from time to time. O often carry it in my pocket when walk in the park. I wrote (from Ovid) Temporis ars medicina fere est (Time is a great medicine or healer). Yes, this too shall pass. I have an other quote by TR: “Do what you can where you are with what you have.”We have a situation in our life: We are older and feel more pain and have less energy. But we count our blessings- we can still walk and hear and see and think reasonably well. If my eyes are sore I use eyedrops. If I am still fatigued or have a headache I listen to Audible Books or music. Sometimes I just sing an old song from memory.I remember my father used to say. “God made man strong only for a while so we can help others.” As Romans said. “We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.”
When weaker people we despise, we do the great Redeemer wrong. For God, the gracious and the wise receives the feeble and the strong.Let us do good to all men especially to those in the household of faith. (Galatians).We have people in our lives who worry us and disappoint us. Arguing and accusing does nothing positive. Sometimes one has to be patient and listen and pray for that person.Praying for the well-being of a person is often more effective that fighting with that person. Why am I frustrated with that or this person? Is it because I really care about that person or is it because I find it embarrassing for me personally?So following Epictetus it is NOT THAT PERSON who spoils or affects my life. It is how I emotionally think about the situation. I can be angry and confrontative OR I can be philosophical and patient and pray with sincere love. I can tell the person I will be there in reserve any time I am needed. Ultimately you cannot do that person’s exams or work. You cannot force them to stay home or stay sober. You cannot force that person to love you our be your friend.All you can do is encourage them to make good choices. You choose how you want to respond. I like to think of the good side. This person is not dead. This person is not sick or injured (he survived a car wreck). This person did not hurt or kill anybody else. It is unfortunate to total a car and lose the use of it but the car is just so much rust and metal anyway. This person could have parked the car on the street, clean and shiny and in good repair and then walked across the street and been killed by a passing bus. What is better to have the person you love or a late model car? We all have ups and downs in life and hopefully and thankfully we can learn from mistakes and do better in the future.We choose how we spend our hours of lucidity and reasonable health. It does not good to be sad and bitter that we do not have the energy when had when we were 25 or 35. Be glad you worked hard in youth to provide some security in your old age! Quien joven no trabaja viejo duermo sobre paja (If you don’t work when you are young you will regret it -suffer humiliations even homelessness when you are old.).I remember my father always had two great worries:
1) being evicted and then homeless
2) not having enough to eat or fresh water to drink.
3) not having a regular job.I used to call him on the phone long distance, and he would always say “HOW’S YOUR WEE JO-AB? (job). He figured if you were working you are in reasonable health and gaining a reasonable security. He also advised me NEVER TO SPEND my “bottom dollar” (better to go hungry) and try to have always a free and clear car, some food on hand (even if it was just peanut butter and crackers or oatmeal) and enough money for gas or transportation.Your next goal was to own your own home. In itself it was a good investment (or could be ) and forced savings. I am glad I took an economics class in high school and one year of economics in college! I am very glad that when I studied to be a teacher I was working FULL TIME at a Bank (including nights and weekends) to provide insurance and some security for my family but ALSO TO LEARN about CREDIT, INTERESTS RATES,
FRAUDS, IDENTIFY THEFT, BANKRUPTCY and FINANCE.We started modestly with a condominium then a home in a reasonable neighborhood (we were considered rich) than a home in a nicer neighborhood (we were considered poor!). My son was a boy scout in his old school. When we moved to the new neighborhood he had to join another troop. He wasn’t accepted. Each parent had to organize activities. Ours were not fancy enough. Once we organized an outing to the local minor league baseball team. No one showed up. My son was very disappointed be we had a good time. He decided to quit the Boy Scouts. But instead he took SPORTS OFFICIATING and later made money officiating SOCCER, BASEBALL and BASKETBALL. He played soccer, basketball and baseball in high school. In college he played on an all-boys practice basketball team against the Varsity Girl team. He did that for one year. He tried to get scholarship. They didn’t offer him one so he quit that and played on intramural teams. Eventually he became a teacher and a successful coach in baseball and soccer. His knowledge and experience prepared him for a satisfying career which he enjoys very much. His coaching led to him meeting people in professional baseball and now (part-time) he tutors and mentors rookie players from Spanish-speaking countries.None of our children had cars in high school. But many of their classmates had luxury cars of their own and had active hedonistic social lives. Parties, ski trips, secret drinking. When our children were in college they helped pay their own way. When they had jobs and NEEDED a car for safe transportation, we helped them by sharing our second car with them or helping them buy a used car. It turned out, over the years, we never have a second car for ourselves which mean I did not have my own personal car. But we lived perfectly happy.
By working during college our children reduced their school debt to a minimum and gained a great appreciation for studies and leisure time. Our children paid their own rent and daily expenses themselves. We helped them 1) get their first car -a used car 2) we gave them AAA cards and gas credit cards (FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY). They never abused the privilege and in fact I remember my daughter would send tip money to my wife to help pay the Chevron bill. We never paid a penny of interest on those cards!Children have to learn the value of money and the value of work early in life. By 18 a youngster should be contributing to his or her upkeep. The most important thing is to get EXPERIENCE and to develop the DISICPLINE of getting up every day and showing up on time for work. That means sometimes working nights or weekends.Yes, it is hard to work and easier to play and sleep in.But we choose how to respond to our problems in life and if we work hard and are sober and judicious we can create the outcomes we want or at least outcomes that are better if we had not planned and made good choices. In each life some rain shall fall But if we have a roof over our heads, an umbrella, a hat and a raincoat we will get through the storm more easily

    Republic of Letters

    My Favorite Drinks for Health and Pleasure

    By Richard K. Munro

    Of course, my favorite drink and the drink I drink EVERYDAY would have to be Adam’s Ale or good old H20 (water) often with some ice but not always. I think it very healthful to drink water with meals.

    After drinking water I drink some coffee with milk every morning. In the winter I make a pot of Earl Grey with some lemon juice and Splenda and fill up a thermos and then sip all afternoon. Sometimes I add honey. In the summer I add ice and make a pitcher of iced tea. So if I were to add it up the drinks I habitually drink and like are in this order: WATER, TEA, COFFEE, MILK. I like fruit juices and drink them occasionally but they have too much sugar and too many calories so I substitute a vitamin C power in water each morning. I will drink a Coca Cola if on the road but rarely drink that anymore. Generally I avoid sugarly softdrinks.

    I am not and never have been a a teetotaler however. But I am aware very aware of the dangers and temptation of “demon rum”. There is an old Spanish saying : If you ever know a man who tries to dr own his sorrows, kindly inform him his sorrows know how to swim. Drinking is one one to forget but it takes a toll on the mind and body. If one only drinks in moderation and occasionally one enjoys them more.

    I just drink alcoholic beverages in moderation occasionally. In the summer I enjoy a cold glass of Spanish sherry now and then.

    Of course, I enjoy a glass of cold beer now and then as well.

    I am not too particular about my beer but enjoy draught beer.

    I enjoy whisky also from time to time. If there is nothing else available I will have a bourbon whiskey or a rye whiskey but I never keep any of that stuff in my house. But my preferred hard drink is a nice Scotch blend or for special occasions a nice single-malt.

    I like Irish whisky also and will have it from time to time. I really don’t like other hard drinks (tequila, vodka, rum, gin) and probably will go 10 or 15 years without drinking those drinks. In 2016 someone bought me a Bloody Mary and to be hospitable I took it. I liked it but haven’t had one since. It is 2024 and I haven’t had a Scotch since New Year’s Eve! If I am out I will have a Manhattan cocktail (made with  whiskey sweet vermouth and bitters). If I can I would prefer a Rob Roy but in my experience a Manhattan is usually a more avialble cocktail. I never make fancy cocktails at home though sometimes I will make a hot toddy or a lemonade punch spiked with whisky.

    I enjoy wine and usually we drink Spanish, Italian, Portuguese , Chilean, Californian or German wine.

    In my youth I used to like pitchers of Sangria but rarely have it now. We all must drink both for our health and enjoyment. But drink clean water (I have a filter at home) and boil it if you must. This is why the British soldier of old drank tea. It was a safe and satisfying drink. That’s the way I feel about it today. I enjoy a coffee but find it can make my stomach upset. Tea always seems tasteful and salubrious to me so next to water it is my favorite drink.

    Daily writing prompt
    What is your favorite drink?
    View all responses
    Republic of Letters

    Pyrrhus, He of the Pyrrhic Victory and Alexander the Great and his legend

    quotes and commentaries gathered by

    RICHARD K. MUNRO

    Famed Greek general Pyrrhus of Epirus gave birth to the immortal phrase “pyrrhic victory.” 

    The Alexander Mosaic, also known as the Battle of Issus Mosaic, is a Roman floor mosaic originally from the House of the Faun in Pompeii.
    MAGNA GRAECIA
    Campaigns of Pyrrhus

    After the battle of Asculum (279BC) Plutarch relates in a report by Dionysius :

    The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory that one other such victory would utterly undo him. For he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all his particular friends and principal commanders; there were no others there to make recruits, and he found the confederates in Italy backward. On the other hand, as from a fountain continually flowing out of the city, the Roman camp was quickly and plentifully filled up with fresh men, not at all abating in courage for the loss they sustained, but even from their very anger gaining new force and resolution to go on with the war.

    — Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus

    Pyrrhus was a mercenary general and mercenaries fight only for money and glory. My grandfather used to say ” a soldier will die for the
    colours but not for an extra two bob a day.” The Romans of old had deep civic virtue and patriotism and that unity and courage were tough nuts to crack. It makes one think of the Russians 1941-1945 and the Ukrainians in our day (2022-2024). If the Ukrainians get the aid and weapons they need I think they will be unconquerable and eventually the Russians will tire of their bloody Pyrrhic victories. They may tire of
    Putin himself.
    Pyrrhus of Epirus  Πύρρος (Pýrrhos;)c 319/318–272 BC)
    A marble bust of Pyrrhus from the Villa of the Papyri at the Roman site of Herculaneum, now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy It is quite possible that Julius Caesar himself gazed upon this very portrait as the Villa of the Papyri belonged to a close relative.

    “…on the eve of battle [Alexander the Great] appeared in a dream to Pyrrhus, boldest of Greek generals, and when Pyrrhus asked what help a ghost could promise, ‘I lend you,’ he answered, ‘my name.’ True to the story, it was the name which retained a living fascination for two thousand years. It attracted the youthful Pompey, who aspired to it even in his dress; it was toyed with by the young Augustus, and it was used against the emperor Trajan; among poets, Petrarch attacked it, Shakespeare saw through it; Christians resented it, pagans maintained it, but to a Victorian bishop it seemed the most admirable name in the world. Grandeur could not resist it; Louis XIV, when young, danced as Alexander in ballet; Michelangelo laid out the square on Rome’s Capitol in the design of Alexander’s shield; Napoleon kept Alexander’s history as bedside reading, though it is only a legend that he dressed every morning before a painting of Alexander’s grandest victory. As a name, it had the spell of youth and glory: it was Julius Caesar who once looked up from a history of Alexander, thought for a while and then burst into tears ‘because Alexander had died at the age of thirty-two, king of so many peoples, and he himself had not yet achieved any brilliant success.’”

    FROM Alexander the Great by Robin Lane Fox (1973)

    ( a wonderful book I read this when I was at NYU and there have been other biographies since but this remains one of the best and is of the highest literary quality).

    Republic of Letters

    My favorite Candy

    by Richard K. Munro

    “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.” said Ogden Nash.

    As a kid I loved Baby Ruth bars and Snickers. Now I find them too sweet. But I still love chocolate. 

    \My favorite is probably Swiss chocolate but I enjoy good old Hersey’s with Almonds. The reality is I rarely eat candy today. The closest I get to it is hot chocolate in the winter or a glass of chocolate ovaltine. But if I am on the road and need a snack I probably will get a Snickers bar to tide me over!

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s your favorite candy?
    View all responses
    Republic of Letters

    FIDO: Our Beloved Link to Paradise

    By Richard K Munro

    A hummingbird in our garden in January 2024.
    OUR PALS: LANEY AND LEO IN OUR GARDEN JANUARY 2024. We just adopted Laney as his mistress, our neighbor had recently died.

    “Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring–it was peace.”

    (Milan Kundera)


    I recently read a horrendous article about dogs being dumped over the outskirts of town and left to die. There was a redeeming characteristic to the article: two volunteers pledged to bring the dogs water and food. Like me, they were saddened at the cruelty and selfishness of so many humans and wanted to help the dogs. 

    Dogs are fascinating. They vary immensely in size and color more than any other mammal, so they are unique. 

    Dogs are, of course, Man’s Best Friend. They are probably our oldest animal companion the very first domesticated animal. In fact, without the dog our civilization may not have come into existence at all!  

    My father had a dog. My grandfather had a dogs almost everyone had a dog at one time or another. They were part of the family and part of the family history.

    Lincoln loved dogs. He had a dog named Fido. Stanley Coren tells us:

    “This dog was almost always with Lincoln and the people of Springfield would report that it was a common sight to see Lincoln walking down the street with Fido walking behind, carrying a parcel by the string tied around it. A regular stop for Lincoln was at Billy’s Barbershop for a haircut. Fido would settle down to wait outside patiently, although he could easily be lured into a game involving jumping and twirling when young children came by and paid any particular attention to him.”

    Dogs have their flaws, however, They need attention and can be expensive to maintain. I think dogs tend to be dirty and greedy (for food). 

    And dogs have been known to fight over food. 

    Dogs who have been abandoned generally speaking are the most aggressive about defending their food. Having a bad master or none at all is bad for dogs. Through neglect and through the fear of hunger dogs can become aggressive. They say a hungry dogs forgets his training, forgets his master and believes in nothing to his bones and his meat when starving. So bad behavior is not really the dogs fault.

    Sadly, very aggressive dogs have to be put down sometimes.  So dirtiness and possible danger and aggression (particularly in large dogs) are a problem. 

    But are they any worse than human beings are in this flaw?  Many poorly raised and marginalized people have poor hygiene and are thieves and aggressive bullies.

    But given half a chance the average dog has one purpose in life: to be a loving companion to his master or mistress and loyally give his or her heart.

    There is no friend like a dog. He will always welcome you home with affection and a jolly wag of his tail and a happy glint in his eye!  He will warn you of danger, of strangers or intruders. If he doesn’t he is telling you something as well. 

    I remember the famous Sherlock Holmes story, The Silver Blaze.

    “Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?’

    ‘To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.’

    ‘The dog did nothing in the night-time.’

    ‘That was the curious incident,’ remarked Sherlock Holmes.”

    The fact the dog communicated was whoever came to see the horse in the stable was NOT a stranger but a well-known and trusted individual.

    If there is a leak in the laundry room he will tell you. 

    If there is smoke he will sound the alarm. 

    Poor fellow! he is confused and frightened by the 4th of July as well as thunder and lightning. 

    But when you comfort him he brings you delight and more than ever is glad YOU ARE HIS MASTER and YOU ARE HIS FRIEND. 

    You are glad he is by your side. 

    And of course we talk to our dogs and wish they could talk to you! Sometimes it seems as if they try!

    I genuinely love dogs and do not want to see them suffer or be harmed in any way.  I love animals in general and am fascinated by them. I love the birds who visit our garden and who make their nests and lay their eggs in our eaves. 

    But my favorite animal is the dog because they are our link to paradise. 

    The saddest thing about a dog is we know he will be with us only for a short while.  We get a dog and we know we will probably have to say goodbye to it long before we die because their lives are short.

    But perhaps this is one of the greatest gifts a dog bestows to us. 

    The dog teaches us not to worry too much about tomorrow. We are all mortal. 

    The dog teaches us to be happy and grateful for small things that each day of life provides.

    A warm blanket. A satisfying meal. A full water bowl. A scented garden. A cool summer breeze. A sweet breath of clean air.  

    A quiet evening. 

    And the love and companionshp of a true friend. 

    “And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

    And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.”

    (John Masefield)

    “Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.” MARCUS AURELIUS  GARY COOPER IN GARDEN OF EVIL (1954)

    Ah, moon of my delight, [who know'st]1 no wane,
    The moon of Heav'n is rising once again:
    How oft hereafter rising shall she look
    Through this same garden after me - in vain!

    And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass

    Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,

    And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot

    Where I made one - turn down an empty Glass!
    orship:

    

     by Edward Fitzgerald (1809 - 1883), appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, First Edition, no. 75, first published 1859 FROM THE PERSIAN
    Daily writing prompt
    What is your favorite animal?
    View all responses
    Republic of Letters

    FIVE THINGS I HABITUALLY DO FOR FUN AND ENTERAINMENT

    Richard K Munro

    1. READ WSJ COMMENTARY LOCAL PAPER
    2. LISTEN TO PODCASTS OR AUDIBLE BOOKS DURING BASEBALL SEASON LISTEN TO BASEBALL GAMES ON THE RADIO OR MLB AT BAT YOUTUBE NEWS (London TImes/Sky News/etc).
    3. WORK IN GARDEN clean the pool. ENJOYING NATURE OR GO FOR WALKS IN THE PARK SWIM WHEN WEATHER IS GOOD 
    4. STUDY LANGUAGES ON DUOLINGO AND ALSO WITH SUPPLEMENTARY DICTIONARIES AND READINGS WHILE LISTENING TO CLASSICAL MUSIC AND SIPPING ON THERMOS OF TEA
    5. READ X (TWITTER) AND POST ON BLOG OR FB read books.

    (I USED TO LOVE TO GO TO THE MOVIES BUT HAVE ONLY GONE OCCASIONALLY RARELY SINCE 2017. LAST MOVIES I SAW IN THE MOVIES WERE BARBIE 2023 (ok) 1917 and Darkest Hours.).

    I like old movies and will see one now and again. Most TV series are too much for me. I enjoyed REACHER. But it was a limited series and not too long.

    Bloganuary writing prompt
    List five things you do for fun.
    View all responses
    Republic of Letters

    THE KEYS TO MEMORY: ORG! a MEAN FAM A/R EFFORT

              By Richard K. Munro, MA

    RICHARD K MUNRO (Ricardo Munro) aka “AULD MUNRO” or “EL SUPREMO” I taught memory techniques writing, study skills, , history, languages for over 34 years. I have studied languages for over 50 years.

    From my earliest days as a teacher (chiefly a language and history teacher) I taught my students a little unit THE KEYS TO MEMORY.   ‘ORG a MEAN FAM AR EFFORT”[1] (“Arg! A mean family is an effort”) is a mnemonic device.[2]   The keys to memory are ORGANIZATION, MEANINGFULNESS, FAMILIARITY, ACTIVE REHEARSAL and EFFORT.   Org! a Mean Family AR EFFORT! This fictional somewhat humorous sentence I invented myself for a psychology class in 1987.  I used it my entire teaching career.  No matter what class I taught I stressed the KEYS TO MEMORY as a study aide.   I believe it was helpful to many.

    Creating mnemonic devices can be time consuming and it takes experience to make effective ones. It is always good, as much as possible to make your OWN study cards and invent mnemonic devices. Naturally one can borrow mnemonic devices from others.  In my experience ready-made vocabulary or study cards have the virtue of being correct and ready for review and study.  Also, ready-made study cards are expensive.  Another problem with “spark charts” or study cards you are just passively reading.  And the cards or charts may not align directly with the text one is using.     Passive listening and passive reading ALONE are not effective learning strategies.  But they are better if combined with other strategies such as active note-taking, audiovisual aids (music, maps, films), reading aloud, speaking and writing practice.       And there is no question that if one does not PRACTICE and REVIEW and ACTIVELY USE skill one tends to forget over time.   I remember arithmetic, basic geometry and elementary algebra but I have forgotten calculus, chemistry, and most of anatomy because I have hardly used them in my career.   I remember typing, Spanish, Latin, history, literature very well because I have studied and taught these my entire career.

    Excellent examples of common mnemonic devices.

    Great example of a Spanish mnemonic device WITH practical examples and vocabulary. It displays the complete present indicative of the two verbs (SER and ESTAR).  It even has examples of ERRORS that one should avoid.

    very good summary of memory retention and WHY WE FORGET. It is interesting to study WHY WE FORGET but not as useful as studying the KEYS TO MEMORY>

    #1   Let us begin with organization one of the KEYS TO MEMORY. ORGANIZATION which is have some SYSTEM of some way of organizing information for review and study.  I annotate dictionaries [i](adding words and idioms I find in reading. I always keep NOTEBOOKS. Some notebooks are for subject matter (Spanish, Italian, Greek, history, science, literary terms, and literature notes).  One can organize by themes, characters,  chapter, by author, by time period by category (domestic vs. foreign).  Organizing by elements are classified as metals (iron, gold, mercury, copper, silver -good conductors of heat and electricity) , nonmetals ( sulfur and phosphorus -reactive with air).    Some notebooks were for vocabulary and grammar only (with examples).    Spanish has to separate verbs for “to be” (SER and ESTAR).  One simple way to remember most of the distinctions is  ESTAR=LO/TEMP (location, illness temporary condition).   SER=TOC (tic tock =TIME ORIGIN OR CHARACTERISTIC )  “DEDOS” (fingers) is a good mnemonic for the usage of the SUBJUNCTIVE in Spanish.  DEDOS=Deseos (desires) emoción (emotion) Dudas (doubts) opinión (opinion) sugerencias (suggestions).   This mnemonic also is a good way to review Spanish vocabulary. .)  “DOCTOR/PLACE” (see chart) is also a good mnemonic  for SER and ESTAR BUT perhaps a little TOO DEVELOPED (so harder to memorize and teach).  Whatever sticks is the one you should use.

    Prepositional use, for example, in Spanish and English require special study. I know from experience prepositions are translation problem. Here mere translation of a word is not enough; one must have a complete example for total clarity. I have these extended examples in my notebooks and study cards.

    ENGLISHSPANISHtranslation
    FROMLe quitó el lápiz a su hermanaHe took the pencil FROM his sister.
    FROM MORNING TO NIGHTTrabaja el maestro de la mañana a la nocheThe teacher works from morning to night.
    On/onto the floorLos huevos cayeron al sueloThe eggs fell onto (on) the floor.
    By handLo hizo a manoShe made it BY hand

    I noted early on my studies my Spanish to English comprehension was almost 99% BUT going from English to Spanish I made most of my mistakes.  Reading vocabulary is a passive skill and that will normally be your best skill.   Speaking and writing are active skills that require more practice and thought.   I made study cards for terms or new vocabulary. 

    I used color coding with ink, pencils, and index cards as well as abbreviations. I always used PENCIL for English and RED for IMPORTANT (or REVIEW).  I normally use colors for the target language. When I taught bilingual social studies and Spanish for Native Speakers GREEN was always Spanish and blue or black for English.  It doesn’t matter what color you use as long as you are consistent.  For example, I always use PENCIL for English.   I vary colors for other target languages chiefly out of practicality.

    YOU CAN GROUP words and concepts by part of speech such as ADJECTIVES or VERBS.   List synonyms and antonyms.  For synonyms I always used = sign.   I always use slash mark for antonyms GOOD/BAD.  FOR FALSE or PARTIALLY FALSE COGNATES I use this symbol:  ≠ for example Spanish éxito (success) ≠ Salida (exit). I would usually mark them with a RED ASTERISK.  Injuria is an example of a partially false cognate MEANING an insult or slanderous allegation NOT a physical injury which would be in Spanish herida.    Concepts like FALSE COGNATES, SYNONYMS, ANTONYMNS and (true) Cognates are very important for vocabulary development and language learning.      Problem(English or German) or problema Spanish or Greek (πρόβλημα )  problème  (French)is a derivative word that appears in dozens of languages.    So one is not learning merely ONE Spanish word but really a root that is used in hundreds of languages.

    [1]  Some mnemonic devices are well-known.  I favor acronyms (4-7 letters), acrostics and fictional invented names such as “Roy G. Biv” (the colors of the rainbow) or “F X Misterio” (romantic themes in Spanish literature: Fáustico, Exótico, Misterioso (Mysterious, exotic and Faust–like)  Acrostic rhymes are more time consuming  to create as are rhyming poems but they certainly aid the memory.   It appears studies show chunks of three names or acronyms of 5-7 words or letters are ideal. After you’ve introduced the acrostic strategy and acronym strategies you can do whole class activities occasionally.   The important thing is sharing practical mnemonic devices and encouraging students to use these strategies.  Other well-known acronyms are for example, FANBOYS for the seven coordinating conjunctions For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So HOMES for the five great lakes in North America: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.  Q& A (Question and Answer ) is one of the easiest and most universally used acronym. There are also internet acronyms used in texts and chats:LOL (laughing out loud) and other variants. IMHO (in my honest opinion). TTYL (Talk to You Later) EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). There are many military acronyms at well and new ones are created all the time.  You can google them when you need them.  Some of the common ones are POW (prisoner of War) MIA (Missing In Action) KIA (killed in action) AWOL (absent without leave)PT (physical training)

    [2] Mnemonics, Psychology of – ScienceDirect

     

    #2 MEANINGFULNESS which is the quality  of being useful, beneficial , or important.

    A learner must have a positive attitude to what he or she is studying. When I taught English for learners or Spanish, I always began my class with the reasons WHY English was important, useful, beneficial and FUN.   I always began my Spanish classes with why Spanish was BEAUTIFUL, USEFUL, BENEFICIAL and FUN. I passed out an index card to each student and had them copy down these simple motivational phrases in Spanish. They were to say this ALOUD every day at least once and the more the better.

    1. Me gusta el español (I LIKE SPANISH; SPANISH IS PLEASING TO ME)
    2. A mí me gusta español, (I really like Spanish)
    3. El español es útil y puede ayudarme (SPANISH IS USEFUL and CAN HELP ME
    4. El español es hermoso (SPANISH IS BEAUTIFUL)
    5. El español es fonético (Spanish is phonetic and easy to spell).
    6. El español no es difícil (SPANISH IS NOT DIFFICULT)
    7. Es bueno estudiar y respasar todos los días (It is Good to study and review EVERY DAY).

    I would also joke that Spanish helped my romantic life.  Being bilingual made it twice as easy to get a date Saturday night.   Latin aunts and mother in laws liked me because I was polite, brought food, wine and presents AND I spoke to them in Spanish.   I would ask when autocontrol was good and when it was bad.  In Spanish it was Good (autocontrol=self control) but in English (OUT OF CONTROL) it was bad.   In Spanish being an AS is Good a compliment (it means ACE or STAR)  In English being an ASS is pejorative.  I remember the first time I heard this expression when a Spanish friend said to me with a smile and a laugh Tú eres un as (YOU ARE AN ACE).  At first I was momentarily angry but I quickly understood =everyone was smiling and laughing- he was giving me a compliment!   Here is some simple humor I would work into my basic classes.

    Q Por qué está tan triste el cuaderno de matemáticas? (why is the math notebook so sad?  

     A Porque tiene muchos problemas. (Because he is full of problems!)

    Q ¿Cuál es la fruta más cómica? (What is the most comical fruit)
    A Naranja ja ja ja.   (ORANGE HA HA HA)

    Q¿Cuál es la fruta más paciente? (What is the most patient fruit?)
    A Es pera. It’s the pear! (espera WAIT)

    Q ¿Cómo se dice nariz en inglés?  (HOW DO YOU SAY NOSE IN ENGLISH?)
    A No sé.  NOSE.[1]   

    Liking a language or having a love or affection for it helps MEANINGFULNESS enormously. If one develops a passion or devotion for a subject it will become more meaningful.  I loved Spanish music and songs at was attracted to them.   Also, I was fascinated that soccer and baseball were broadcast and written about in Spanish so that was how I began to read and listen to Spanish and with great joy[2].  I also found it was fun to talk to players in their native languages (and get a few autographs). [3]The first Spanish I ever read for pleasure was the baseball roundup in El Diario newspaper. I learned basic Spanish sports and baseball vocabulary and the past tense of common verbs.

    The subject matter or language you study must have a PRACTICAL advantage (such as learning a useful language such as Spanish for social or commercial purposes or gaining a certificate in a technical field) or an INTELLECTUAL advantage (such [4]as helping with comprehension of grammar by studying Latin, the appreciation of music such as opera or lieder such as Italian, French or German). Studying Latin and Greek will help with the study of medical or technical terms.  Meaningfulness if found through literature, poetry gives us JOY or a SPIRITUAL or philosophical advantage (such as studying Stoic Philosophers or the Bible).  I never tire to read or listen to Stoic philosophers, reading C. S. Lewis, Gilbert Highet’s CLASSICAL TRADITION or his shorter book MAN’S UNCONQUERABLE MIND or JESUS and LAO TZU: the Parallel Sayings (ed. Aronson).  Some things have an entertainment value such as learning how to draw, studying chess, learning to play music or gaining the finer points of golf or soccer or baseball as a player, manager or fan.   Spanish was never a chore when I heard music, a song or listened to a good ball game.  When I lived in Spain, I saw many movies dubbed in Spanish or VO (version original usually English with Spanish subtitles).  To this day I see many movies on NETFLIX with English subtitles or dubbed in Spanish or Portuguese just for fun.

    #3 FAMILIARITY  which is an acquaintance or knowledge of something. If one grows up in New York or the Spanish Southwest one will have contact with Spanish language ads, restaurants and native speakers.  If one can travel it helps to be immersed in a German-speaking or Italian-speaking or Spanish-speaking environment. If Spanish, Yiddish or German are the heritage languages of your parents and grandparents you probably have some familiarity with those languages.  When I lived in New York I heard or spoke Spanish every day! I also heard a lot of Yiddish words in conversation or on the radio. When I visited Italy the first time, I had some familiarity with Italian from songs and operas AND my knowledge of Spanish.  I could communicate effectively with Italians from day one.   If one knows the history of Indo-European languages one realizes the inseparable connection between these languages. If one learns Latin grammar, then the grammar of other languages is easier to understand.  I know Spanish well and realize that Greek, Spanish Italian, Latin and English are all related and share roots and vocabulary.  “Any time someone learns a foreign language it leads them to consider the workings of their own language in greater detail, and , since the syntactic structures of Latin….are relatively complicated, familiarity with that language can give students the understanding needed to work with a greater repertory of grammatical possibilities in English as well.”[6] Therefore, learning Italian or French will be easier for someone with a good vocabulary of English, Spanish and Latin.     German or Swedish is easier if one knows English and so on.  Even a language like Hindi or Punjabi which use different alphabets are easier to learn to speak due to their similarities to English, French, Spanish and Gaelic.[7] 

    Scottish soldiers communicated with Indian soldiers during WW1 via a patois of Gaelic, English, Hindi and Punjabi

    In general the more technical and academic the root word the more likely it is a true or identical cognate.  False and partially false cognates are about 5-10%.   When I was teaching Spanish (or English) I often would just made a pre-test like this (note some cognate words are partially false or need explanation):

    SpanishEnglishCommentary
    perdonarTo pardon or to forgive 
    terminarTo end or terminate (finish off) 
    La direcciónDirection or ADDRESSAlso means MANAGEMENT  or course (of a boat or plane) (rumbo) Also tendency.
    El compañeroCompanion, comradeClassmate colleague
    El talentoTalent or aptitudeAncient coin (talent)
    El críticoCritic, reviewerEl momento crítico (crucial momento)  la crítica (criticism; literary criticism ;critique
    La miseriaMisery sufferingPoverty Misero=wretched

    #4 ACTIVE REHEARSAL

    Active rehearsal is very important for memory development and learning.  If possible, Active Rehearsal should be ALOUD or (next best) by WRITING and even better by TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE. [8]  With TPR you act out the words (if possible, such as going to the right, going to the left, going up, going down, drinking, pointing, eating, cooking, mixing, kicking, hitting, throwing standing, or sitting or singing).  I always used large color picture cue cards in my classes to stimulate conversation or responses.  I had a picture of a HELICOPTER but also taught the common words (HELO or BIRD).  The students would hear these words in movies or TV shows.  The advantage of using a picture is one is NOT TRANSLATING.  A/R or active rehearsal is a way of reviewing information and moving it from short-term to long-term memory. During active rehearsal, you repeat (practice) the vocabulary or material to be remembered in a very active and deliberate way.

    One sequence I found helpful was to make a series of QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS with the most common interrogative words on large cue cards. One starts with the most COMMON words first such as  WHERE , YES, NO, THANK YOU  and then QUE/DONDE/COMO/CUANDO/POR QUE (words that are not inflected (masculine or feminine  or have plurals.[9]  

    I know some languages well but many others I have only a smattering but I always get by.    When in Greece some years ago we woke up in a rural area and there seemed to be almost no activity and no signs or advertisements.   After a few moments we saw a Greek man walking down the street I waved at him and asked Milás angliká? (Do you speak English)[10] Ochi, he said (NO).  So I asked simply WHERE IS BREAD AND WATER, YES? Poú eínai psomí kai neró nai?[11]   He understood completely and showed us where a small café offered us bread, water, olives, cheese as well as coffee.  Efcharistó[12], I said THANK YOU!  My father who spoke Spanish and Tagalog in the Philippines during WW2 said knowing another language was helpful and could even save your life. With only a basic vocabulary one can communicate and find things.   Of course, one can use a smartphone translator I suppose but it is so much easier to rely on yourself and save your batteries.


    Here are more examples of active rehearsal. As mentioned, before I always use index or study cards. Just MAKING THEM and writing them out is a good learning technique.  ROTE LEARNING can be effective if it is varied and active.  A very poor way is what I did when I first studied Spanish.   I just read over the vocabulary which was listed alphabetically. It was followed by a short list of idioms and cognates (which I always ignored because they were never on the quizzes). I always did my homework and spent time studying but typically I got the first word and last words right and missed those in the middle.  In addition, since I didn’t practice writing them, I made spelling and accentuation mistakes.  I was frustrated by getting C’s and B’s on quizzes and tests.  I could never get an A.   After talking to my teachers and classmates I changed my approach.

     I began to COPY OUT ALL OF THE WORDS ON STUDY CARDS and shuffled them. I studied SPANISH TO ENGLISH and then (more difficult) ENGLISH TO SPANISH.  I quickly identified words I knew and made a list of the words I did not know. I would put the ones I knew in one pile.  I reviewed 20-30 words a day.  My mother did not know Spanish, but she could quiz me at random.  I began to get 90% and then sometimes 100% on my quizzes.  I went from a B student to a solid A student and then became an AP Spanish student.  I won the Spanish Language Prize at my school.  I began to copy out the “bonus words” (cognates) and translate them with my dictionary.  I began using colored drawing to help explain words.  One thing I loved doing was drawing in full color the flags of Spanish speaking countries or the Allies/Central Powers or Allies/Axis power.  Over time I became aware of the concept of COGNATES (TRUE COGNATES) and FALSE FRIEND or FALSE COGNATES.  The key is organizing the study cards and if learning a language not putting too much information on the card.  I always used a color for the target language (or bright highlighting).  Usually, I would have only one word on each side, the exception being verbs.  Sometimes I would break down the verbs starting with GERUNDS or INFINITIVES.   Then I would progress to studying persons and tenses.  If studying a subject material, I would break down into topics and have short outlines.   I always tried to develop MNEMONIC DEVICES for geography, lists of allies[13],  causes of a war,  advantages and disadvantages, debates or for essays.

    #5 EFFORT  is perhaps the key to memory. If one studies effectively with good organization,  knowledge of connections or familiarization,if one believes one’s studies are meaningful, and if one varies his practice or active rehearsal consistently with focus and effort one will advance as much as one is able.  Effort is the physical or mental effort to achieve something or produce something.  Effort must be consistent.  Time on task is an important part of consistent effort.  No matter how good is your teacher is or how excellent your textbook or language learning program your progress depends principally on your own attitude -a sense of meaningfulness- and consistent serious effort. 

     Helen Keller said: “Be of good cheer. Do not think of today’s failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.”  Theodore Roosevelt wrote:“ Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

    No  skill is should be practiced indifferently and intermittently.  Any art or skill worth learning will require TIME and CONSISTENT EFFORT.  Of course, not everyone will develop a high skill level in every field.  I always wanted to draw and paint better but I could become a great artist but I became good enough to help make simple drawings to help me learn languages or teach.   I always loved music and wanted to be a virtuoso at the piano.   I learned to read music and memorized the notes.   But I realized after a number of years I was never going to get beyond TORNA A SORRENTO or LOCH LOMOND or JOY TO THE WORLD.  But knowing something about music has always given me greater understanding and delight.

    There is no royal road to geometry as has been attributed to Euclid [14]. [i] There is no such thing as “instant Spanish” or “instant Algebra”.   On the contrary true learning means following the path of hard work and persistence over a long period of time day after day, week after week month after month even years.

    Remember, ideally, mnemonic devices should be chunked to 5 to 7 letters.  Everyone is different but one should experiment and choose the techniques which work the best for you.

    When studying for my comprehensive Spanish MA exams I had many of my books and notebooks at hand for reference if necessary but created study cards for themes with literary terms and outlines of literary works or chronology. 

    I knew the basic outline of the exams (written and oral). I still have my notes.  I started with series of cards I taped to the wall near the desk where I studied daily for about six weeks. (I also was finishing 9 credits at the time and had exams for those three classes).  To get my MA I had to have 27 credits in Spain plus one independent study (a paper on Don Quixote in Spanish).  I studied in 1989, 1990, 1991,

    It is important to know what material is being testing and how the tests are organized. I grew up with essays and pencil and paper tests but I learned late in life that online testing was a different skill and required special practice.   

    Friday July 26 1991:   

                    EXAM: CELA

    For each of these I had notebooks from years of study and color-coded study cards I created myself.

    Saturday July 27 1991:

    1. Medieval Literature (Poem of the Cid etc) SALMON COLORED CARDS
    2. Spanish Grammar WHITE & YELLOW CARDS
    3. Spanish Civilization and culture YELLOW CARDS

    Sunday July 28, 1991    

    1)Golden Age (Emphasis Drama) Siglo De Oro (Salmon Colored cards)

    2)19th Century (Emphasis Romantic Drama) Salmon colored cards

    3) 20th Century Literature (Emphasis  Cela, Lorca, Machado)

    Monday July 29, 1991

                    1)Poem of the Cid

                    2)19th Century Romantic Poetry

    JULY 30, 1991  No exam scheduled (oral exams) STUDY AND REVIEW

    July 31 1991 Oral Exams with three native speaking Spanish PhDs

    1) grammar orthography and accentuation

    2) familiarity with the list of the 50 most famous plays, poems and books in the Spanish language including Garcia Lorca, Machado, La Celestina, Tirso de Molina, Cervantes

    3) General questions on Spanish civilization and comparative literature.

    I made reference to the operas of Verdi based on Spanish plays and compared Yeats and Shakespeare to Garcia Lorca, and referred to the influence of Shaw,  Fennimore Cooper, and Walter Scott on Spanish literature.  I did well on all my essay exams but I really shone on the oral exams due to my fluent Spanish and deep knowledge of Spanish and Western Literature.   One could say I prepared thirty years for that test!   Had I been younger and with fewer obligations, I might have gotten into a Ph.D.  program in comparative literature.  However, it was not in the cards.   I could not afford to stop working, quit my job and lose my medical benefits. So without regrets, I made my career as a k-12 language and bilingual teacher.

    My GPA for my MA was 3.97.     The only reason I got that was because I had to type my paper on Don Quixote on an old Smith Corona typewriter while I was teaching full-time and coaching soccer. I had some typos that I corrected with white out and one of the three professors gave me a B+ and two with more sympathy gave me an A hence the A-.  For economic reasons, I had to get my last three credits before Dec 31 so as to raise my salary retroactively for the whole year. 

     I would like to close on the use of technical resources such as computers and online resources such as search engines like BING or GOOGLE .   I read an article a few years ago “Are search engines supplanting our memory?” “People worry about what our relationship to technology is doing to our cognition,” said Betty Sparrow, a researcher at Columbia University who led the research. “They worry about looking up everything online and not remembering it all.”

    Ubiquitous availability of the Internet may be causing a shift in how much information we retain in our memories, researchers claim. Because search engines such as Google and Bing are so readily at hand, through desktop computers and mobile phones, we feel less need to remember details that can be easily looked up, note researchers from Columbia University, the University of Wisconsin, and Harvard University. ?” [15]

    This is a problem for schools as smartphones and AI can be used for cheating.   I feel personal phones should be restricted during school hours and prohibited absolutely during formal testing.   I remember even a few years ago students would turn in short essays that were merely pasted on translations from Google Translate.  I knew the students were cheating but I ignored this and thanked them for their work. I then said that was merely step one of the assignment.   Step two was to create a glossary of the vocabulary in the essay.   Step three was to use at least 15 new words in complete original sentences (in class).   Students could use hard-cover dictionaries but no electronic devices.   Teachers must have some oral questions and answering, oral presentations, dictations, and written exercises with paper and pencil in class.   You cannot rely entirely on scantron tests or take-home assignments.   When are 100% online as in some Canvas Zoom classes in my opinion one must schedule exams over a week and orally test each student.  

    I use search engines and online encyclopedias and dictionaries.   But I don’t rely on them entirely.[16]    While search engines provide a vast source of information at our fingertips, they also present a possible peril for us by the repetition of an error or a fake quotation as well as deliberate misinformation.   Photographs , documents and recordings CAN BE altered or faked,

    “Use it or lose it” is an old saying. Not using your brain could affect your mental health over the years.   I spent years studying Portuguese but found though I could still read it fluently I had lost some of my oral fluency over the years.  So I decided to review and practice Portuguese [17] at least 10 minutes a day when I do my language study.  It has helped revitalize my Portuguese and introduce me to Brazilian accents and vocabulary (I had lived in Funchal and Lisbon only). 

    Similarly, if one doesn’t do math in one’s head or by pencil and paper one may become completely dependent on calculators.  So I still calculate my tips or basic sums in my head or by pencil.  Over reliance on our laptops and smartphones is very tempting but by doing so we lose a lot.  

    When I come into contact with non-English speakers I try to see if they speak a language, I know such as Spanish and if they don’t I use what I know of oral Arabic or Greek or Hindi.    In the years I taught I always picked up words and phrases from the native languages of the students I had.    I could then remind them to behave or to speak English.  

    Of course, words like COFFEE, TEA, COCA-COLA are almost universal!  alraja’ altahaduth bial’iinjilizia  ….iinjilizia SPEAK ENGLISH PLEASE (ARABIC) krpaya angrejee mein baat karen SPEAK ENGLISH PLEASE (Hindi) Qǐng jiǎng yīngyǔ )SPEAK ENGLISH PLEASE (Chinese).    I didn’t need to recur to my smart phone though I had cardboard study cards with words and commands for various languages.    As a language teacher, I invited my students to speak English, especially in class.  But I never told them to “shut up and talk American” on their breaks or free time and I didn’t mind talking to them in their language after school.   I gave my students bonus points for making inspirational posters in their native languages with the phrase ONLY THE EDUCATED ARE FREE (Epictetus) in English and Arabic as well as Greek, Tagalog, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Gaelic, Hindi, Punjabi, Chinese, Karen,  Japanese and Chinese.      In doing so I spread a very important concept (The importance of education for our lives) and also the importance of AUTHENTIC BILINGUALISM and LITERACY in multiple languages.    Students were fascinated by the variety of languages spoken at the school.   I found out many times that students could speak and understand a language but could no longer write it.  So sometimes their parents would help them.   Students would prepare Hindi and Arabic glossaries for me that I would share with future students.   

     A person who reads and studies in another language and who makes his own translations gains great knowledge as well as analytical skills that make for mastery of a language and the ability to communicate.  Foreign contacts (and possible romantic partners) will be favorably impressed by your respect for their language and culture and your seriousness in dealing with them.    Fluent command of a language is based upon THE KEYS TO MEMORY.  

    San Joaquin Valley, USA January 2024

    [1] One time I was baffled by a student’s response to a test.  He responded over and over again NOSE NOSE NOSE.  I finally realized he was saying “no sé” (I don’t know).

    [2] Spanish Baseball Terminology | MiLB.com

    [3]  I met a few bullfighters in my day plus had nice conversations with Orlando Cepeda, Felipe Alou, Rico Carty,  Roberto Clemente and Luis Tiant.  I didn’t always get an autograph but I got a few. The experience was what was really memorable!

    [4] Unlocking the Mystery of Baseball Positions in Spanish: A Personal Journey to Understanding [Plus 5 Essential Terms and Stats for Beginners] – Belvidere Youth Baseball

    [5]

    [6] George, Coulter H. 2020. How Dead Languages Work. Oxford University Press, USA.

    [7] Hāṁ, uha māṛī hai kuṛī      YES SHE IS A BAD GIRL. (Punjabi )Ella es mala SHE IS A BAD GIRL Spanish.   Hāṁ uha mara gi’ā hai  YES HE IS DEAD (Punjabi) Tha tha e marbh (HA HA E MARV) He is dead (Gaelic).  My grandfather told me that during WW1 Scottish Highlanders and Indian soldiers communicated via a Gaelic/English/French/Hindi/Punjabi patois made easier by having some vocabulary in common. Maiṁ hāṁ (I AM, Punjabi) (MISE, me Gaelic) Tusī hōō (YOU ARE, Punjabi) Is tusa (You are Gaelic) Uha hai (HE IS, Punjabi) Tha E (he is GAELIC) Tusīṁ pi’āsē hō (YOU ARE THIRSTY; Punjabi) tha am pathadh ort (YOU ARE THIRSTY; Gaelic). Ika dō tina cāra paja (one two three four five, Punjabi) aon dhà trì ceithir còig Gaelic=5 Pump (Welsh)(One two three four five). Zīrō, kujha nahīṁ (ZERO, nothing). ITALIAN (niete). SPANISH NADA(nothing).

    [8]  Asher, James J. “What is TPR – Updated: Immersion and Dual Language”. www.tprsource.com. Retrieved 2024-1-20     See also:

    (16) EL BARQUITO CHIQUITITO, canciones infantiles – YouTube   is a Good way to practice numbers and basic vocabulary.   Song with subtitles, for example, this type of active rehearsal is the way many children learn the abedecario (ABCS) their ABCs by singing the rhyming alphabet song. Songs, poems, and rhymes are very effective mnemonic devices BUT they are very time-consuming to create so I don’t normally recommend them UNLESS they are well-known and ready-made.

    Canciones del Abecedario (ABC Alphabets Song) | Canciones infantiles en Español | ChuChu TV (youtube.com)

    [9] EXTENDED LIST in SPANISH/ENGLISH

    • qué = what (or which)
    • cuál, cuáles = which (or what)
    • cuándo = when
    • quién, quiénes = who
    • dónde = where 
    • cómo = how
    • cuánto, cuánta = how much
    • cuántos, cuántas = how many
    • por qué = why ≠because porque or a causa de because of

    [10] Μιλάς αγγλικά

    [11] Πού είναι ψωμί και νερό ναι

    [12] Ευχαριστώ

    [13]  TAG (Turkey Austria Germany)  RED WHITE AND BLUE POWERS  (Allies)  FRANCE, BRITAIN, USA. WW2 Hitler did a jig JIG (JAPAN ITALY GERMANY ) Axis powers.  I would act out caricatures of world leaders and the kids could identify them….CHURCHILL with hat and  cigar and V for victory.  FDR in a chair with his cigarette holder, Hitler with his mustache, Mussolini with his chin and gestures.  Stalin with picture cards of a block of ice and sign GULAG THIS WAY.

    [14] μὴ εἶναι βασιλικὴν ἀτραπὸν ἐπί γεωμετρίαν, Non est regia [inquit Euclides] ad Geometriam via) The Greek is from Proclus (412–485 AD) [14] (in Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements, the Latin translation is by Francesco Barozzi in 1560)  The absence of a “royal road” to geometry implies that there is no substitute for the fundamental building blocks of knowledge. Lacking these essential foundations leads to a weak or imperfect understanding.  To get you have to exert effort to sweat. “You sweat you get, you snooze you lose.”

    [15]Are search engines supplanting our memory? | InfoWorld

    [16] I have many dictionaries and still like to use physical dictionaries. I enjoy audible books and e-books but I find that I remember much more when I read a physical book. [16] For example, when I read e-books I can’t remember the title or the author.  For serious study, I like to have a printout or a physical book.  

      I have Latin-Spanish dictionaries, German-Spanish dictionaries, Spanish-only dictionaries, and Portuguese-only dictionaries.   I have Greek dictionaries, Latin dictionaries, Scottish Gaelic dictionaries, Irish Gaelic dictionaries, French dictionaries, and multilingual dictionaries (including Rumanian as well as major languages).  I have etymological dictionaries.   I do use online dictionaries of course but for study and review, I prefer a physical dictionary.  Older dictionaries have literary quotations or references that one would find nowhere else.  One reference book I use regularly is the OXFORD COMPANION TO ENGLISH LITERATURE (5th edition) edited by Margaret Drabble.

     

     

    Republic of Letters

    HAIM GINOTT AND GILBERT HIGHET: FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION

    By Richard K Munro

    I agree with the Greco-Roman philosophers that wisdom is, eventually, chief among virtues. However, wisdom is a virtue that comes later in life and slowly. Wisdom is a slow growth. It is not, then, first among the virtues we can hope to impart or encourage in the youth. The very first virtues, I think, a child can learn are politeness, thankfulness (gratitude) and obedience.

    Cicero said: “Beginning with the bonds of affection between family and friends, we are prompted to move gradually further out and associate ourselves firstly with our fellow citizens and then with every person on earth.”

    So what is early education? Child rearing (or breeding) is the product of one’s personal associations in the home, in one’s neighborhood, one’s community, and one’s school. Rearing or bringing up the youth presupposes properly coordinating the habits of the young and subordinating the wild, the unhygienic, the selfish, and the baser instincts of our single but riven race.

    A people, a nation or a civilization must have its moral education, its code of civility and norms as well as its time of formal instruction or schooling.

    There is a Spanish saying of which I am fond: “Para la virtud, la educación; para la ciencia la instrucción” which means “First teach virtue, manners, good habits and civility; then school for knowledge.” This saying has long fascinated me because it implies that formal education (instruction; schooling) must be preceded and accompanied by what we used to call “breeding” or “upbringing” or training in manners, socially acceptable behavior, politeness, or civility.

    In English, there is much confusion today as to the role of parents, community, and school in the rearing, training, and education of children and youth, and this confusion is reflected in our opaque, modern usage of silly and synthetic expressions like “parenting”, “empowering” etc. which are cut off from the Aristotelian concepts which were once the basis of all Western schools.

    In the division favored traditionally by the French and Spanish, we can clearly perceive the influence of Thomistic and Greek philosophy (particularly Aristotle and Plato). So in Spanish one can say without any irony that one’s grandparents were bien educados (polite, generous and courteous) but sin instrucción alguna (without formal schooling -even illiterate). Himmler was formerly schooled, a wise Spanish nurse said to me, but muy maleducado (without social graces, without a moral conscience, boorish and rude, in short, a barbarian).

    Haim Ginott made a very wise observation in his wonderful book Teacher and Child :


    On the first day of the new school year, all the teachers in one private school received the following note from a principal:

    Dear Teacher:
    I am the survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness.
    Gas chambers built by learned engineers
    Children poisoned by educated physicians/
    Infants killed by trained nurses.
    Women and babies shot and burned
    By high school and college graduates.
    So I am suspicious of education.
    My request is: Help your students become human.
    Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.
    Reading, writing and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more humane.

    Ginott is saying that moral and character education (what the Spanish know as ‘”educación”) is really more important even than academic achievement or excellence because it is what makes people respectful, merciful, decent and fully human or humane. The Spanish language makes it very clear that education is a process of socialization and ethical development which is accompanied by and followed by “aprendizaje” (which means learning but also “apprenticeship”) which leads to a higher intellectual development called formal education or instruction (formación o instrucción).” The French have the same concept and a similar vocabulary and speak of ‘bonne éducation’ (good manners) or “politesse et civilité” (politeness and civility) as important virtues. Formal schooling is sometimes called “education” or “études” (studies) but especially “instruction et formation” (schooling and academic training). Language helps shape our ideas and our perspectives. It for this reason I believe the well-educated person will have training in one or more languages besides English.

    Republic of Letters

    Thoughts on living a long life

    By Richard K Munro

    Sedona, Arizona picture taken by my son IAN MUNRO

    “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”
    ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship

    That’s certainly is my motto FOR THE GOOD LIFE.

    And this shall be for music when no one else is near
    The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear!
    That only I remember, that only you admire
    Of the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire!

    (R L STEVENSON)

    ***

    O I had ance a true love, now I hae nane ava;
    And I had three braw brithers, but I hae tint them a’.
    My father and my mither sleep i’ the mools this day –
    I sit my lane amang the rigs, aboon sweet Rothesay Bay.

    It’s a bonnie bay at morning, and bonnier at noon,
    But bonniest when the sun draps and red comes up the moon.
    When the mist creeps o’er the Cumbraes and Arran peaks are gray,
    And the great black hills, like sleeping kings, sit grand roun’ Rothesay Bay.

    Then a bit sigh stirs my bosom, and wee tear blin’s my e’e,
    And I think of that far countrie wha I wad like to be.
    But I rise content i’ the morning to wark while I may –
    I’ the yellow har’st field of Ardbeg, aboon sweet Rothesay Bay.

    This old Scottish song, which I have known for most of my life, reminds us there is beauty in this world but also sadness, loneliness, loss, and separation.  But we should rise content each morning to work and study while we may and if we have lost loves and homelands we should be grateful that we have known friendship and love.

    Working as a tour guide in Segovia Spain in the early 1980s. AMOR BRUJO TOURS and TRANSLATIONS
    I don’t have a lot of cash on hand but I always have a leather purse with $20 worth of half dollars at hand and I have a bag with about $150 of change hidden away. I don’t normally carry a lot of cash. Most of my purchases are by credit card. I never use a debit card.

     I have a chance for a long life. 

    Already I am grateful for the years I have lived (mostly in good health). I am 68 years old and older than many people I worked with, studied with or loved. I have known people who died in their teens, in their twenties, in their thirties in their forties, in their fifties, and in their early sixties.  I once saw a Sea Knight Helicopter fly away and cursed the fact I was not on it. It hit bad weather and crashed about 15 minutes later 23 Marines were killed including some people I knew. Our company commander canceled our trip and we had to march more than 20 miles back to camp in bad weather. Sometimes as Auld Pop used to say your number is up.

    One lesson I have learned in life is that the body is a fragile vessel and that we are all mortal. Every day of good health is a gift.  I think being married has kept me reasonably happy and healthy. Choosing a good spouse is one of the most important decisions one can make for one’s happiness and health. I have been married for almost forty-two years to my best friend of the last fifty years. John Joseph Powell in The SECRET OF STAYING IN LOVE wrote: “It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being.” 

    Yes, no one can know true happiness unless they know the love of a husband and wife or of a child. I know when I first saw my grandchildren it was love at first sight! I do believe in enthusiasms and love at first sight.

    Yes, no one can know true happiness unless they know the love of a husband and wife or of a child. I know when I first saw my grandchildren it was love at first sight!  I was happy the day I was married -but not as happy as my parents I think and I was happy when our children were born -a very special gift for which I am eternally grateful- but there is no joy like the surprise or extra-inning gift of grandchildren.    Children mean sacrifice and a lot of hard work but they pay dividends a hundred times over.  Hugh Heffner with his multitudinous and mostly sterile dud in the mud sex was really a chump, not a champion.   He thought he knew what life was but wasted most of his life in hedonistic trivialities. He thought he knew what love was but he knew only a fraction of the Four Loves.

    This is the actress MAUREEN O’ HARA (1939) as Esmeralda in the film HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.  Who with eyes and heart in breast could not fall in love with such a smile?

    To be happy one has to be in reasonable health. One has to have something to do with your time. So it is important to have hobbies and intellectual interests and a few good friends.  One should be loved and have someone to love, have a roof over your head, some soup at the boil, some tasty food to eat,  One needs plenty of water to drink and wash, One thing l learned is that one can go days even weeks of light eating but one cannot go very long without water. So water is my favorite beverage!

    To be happy one has to have some dreams and something to hope for. Many of my personal dreams are unrealized but I had fun trying to achieve those dreams. I hiked many mountains I climbed many ruins in Sicily, Crete, Madeira, in Portugal, Spain, Scotland, Greece and Italy. I kissed a few pretty girls and they kissed me back. I have gone deep sea fishing in the Atlantic and Pacific.  I played a lot of baseball and became in the words of a local athlete “decent”. I served honorably in the Marine Corps. I have published a few articles and one-act plays but never have written (a published book). I have written (privately) three volumes of essays and personal recollections that my daughter published. They are primarily for my grandchildren. I have taught many classes in history, literature, and languages and helped many students. I have coached sports teams and seen great athletes at play. All of our children and grandchildren are bilingual and were or are being raised as native speakers of Spanish and English. 

    I love monumental public memorials and sculptures though  Shakespeare sang in the Sonnets of the immortality of literature:

    “Not marble nor the gilded monuments

    Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme,

    But you shall shine more bright in these contents

    Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time.”

    When I visit the cemetery or war memorials, I walk past hundreds or even thousands of names that represent life stories now silenced forever.  

    Oh, they are the Silent Ones. May the many monuments that abound around the globe to those who have fought to protect our freedom and national independence remind us of duty,  the cardinal virtue of courage,  the inestimable value of valor, the honor evoked by such sacrifice!

    Look at and contemplate {those}

    ” names …inscribed on the parchment of fame;

    Heroes whose seeds were a noble example

    That others might follow and honour thy name.”

    I know that recorded history holds the adventures of a few who managed to be inscribed in the parchment of fame.   

    I have never thought I needed to live a life worthy of being recorded. 

    I never really sought fame or wealth but contentment and the quiet and security of a nice house and library. ] I enjoy quiet cafes, quiet rivers, quiet museums, and quiet walks in the park or in a forest.   I have always wanted to live an honorable life of service to my school, my country,  my family, and my God. “non mihi non tibi sed nobis as the Romans said, “not for me alone nor for thee all but for the common good of all.” 

    I knew all about the world of books.  For most of my life, they were my biggest adventure.  Books could take you into a better world.  A world where there were fine songs for singing, moving laments, sports heroes, romance, adventures, tragedies, military adventures, explorations, mysteries, prayers, legends, and yes, even magic.  Of course,  the articles, stories, songs, and books ended eventually. Then you had to go back to being yourself. 

    So in the final analysis bookish adventures are not enough.    A man craves the freedom to see places and do things. And when you are old you can look back and remember.   This is one of the reasons I enlisted in the Marine Corps , worked in construction as a laborer (I helped build Bill Gate’s home in Bothwell, Washington), and why I lived and traveled in Latin America, Spain, and Europe as much as I could.  I knew my time, my health, my freedom, and my financial independence were limited.  My father always said, “You have to take chances in life.  The door of opportunity opens and then closes.  If you don’t move ahead when you have the chance you can lose out forever. You have to decide if it is worth taking the chance.”

    I realize I am the biggest threat to my emotional, financial, and physical health.

    So what do I do? 

    Number one I have a wife, children, life insurance, some savings, and some property.  I am not a doomsday prepper by any means but I believe in having emergency food, water, and medicine just in case of some natural catastrophe. I have a solar crank radio, a solar charger, flashlights, batteries, candles. a first aid kit, an emergency stove, extra medicine, and spare glasses. That is not excessive. If one wants to have a long life one must be prepared to take care of oneself in case of an accident or an emergency.

    One thing I hope is that I do not outlive my wife, my children, or my grandchildren. I hope I live long enough so that my grandchildren have memories of me and get to know and love me. That is an important goal in my life. I look forward with joy to every spring. I love the birds who come to visit and feed in our garden. I love the plants and flowers that bloom. 

    Leo and Laney enjoy our garden too Jan 2024

    I do a lot of serious reading (classics, non-fiction, biography) but I enjoy lighter fare such as adventure tales, mysteries and westerns. I enjoy reading jokes and joke books.

    I love reading about baseball and listening to games (chiefly) via MLB at Bat. I listen to games in Spanish and English. I first listened to baseball games in Spanish in the 1970s and it helped develop my Spanish. 

    Otherwise, I don’t spend a lot of time on spectator sports. I glance at the newspaper but that’s about it. Most of the time I am happy to read about the final score.

    I try to set time aside for PHYSICAL EXERCISE and JOY ( I try to walk daily in the park and clean the pool and garden). When the weather is good I swim once or twice a day. I love reading and listening to classical music so I have CD’s and a nice BOSE player, plus SPOTIFY plus ITUNES for my phone. 

    I love to read the papers -The Wall Street Journal and our local paper every morning or Commentary magazine. I listen to LONDON TIMES radio reports as well as the Daily Telegraph and some Israeli news as well.

    I spend some time on PERSONAL GROWTH. I love studying languages and spend about 2-3 hours a day studying new languages and reading ones I know. I have taken up a new hobby! Drawing. I always have drawn a little bit in my language studies but I have decided I can improve the quality of my notebooks! I enjoy singing or humming songs. I enjoy reciting poetry by heart just for fun. I also set aside time for relaxation. If I am tired or have a headache I rest and have some tea with lemon, Splenda or honey. I make a thermos of it to sip all afternoon. 

    I love doing FACETIME with our grandchildren it is so wonderful to talk to them and see them so full of joy and happiness. It feels good to hear them say “YAYO, WHEN ARE YOU COMING TO VISIT?” 

    I enjoy phone conversations with a few friends but am not really a phone person. I have to plan to call someone. Basically, I think calling can be an intrusion. And I know some people don’t like long or serious conversations. So my conversations with books are more satisfying than most phone chit-chatting.  But I call people who call me. People who don’t call me or write to me I pray for but don’t worry about. It’s sad when old friends drift away but the truth that’s life.

    So I prefer to write on my blog,The Spirit of Cecilia or THE GILBERT HIGHET SOCIETY on FB or email people. I text some family and friends and share book titles via Audible.

    I try to be moderate in what I eat and drink (I primarily drink water coffee and tea). I have a physical once or twice a year and take my medicines. 

    I know that if one is to enjoy a LONG LIFE one has to do what one can to stay as healthy as possible. Then the chances for a happy long life are better. 

    As a young man and in middle age I traveled a lot so I am happy that I had that experience. But now I really have lost my wanderlust. I only want to travel to visit our grandchildren. Most days I am at home, on the porch, in the garden, in my library, in the TV room , or listening to podcasts or books on tape in bed. My wife and I enjoy JEOPARDY and British mysteries and shows on Masterpiece Theater. I don’t drive very much anymore perhaps once a month or less!  I spend some time on Twitter (X) and Facebook and check my email at least every other day. I enjoy corresponding with people in Italy, Scotland, Israel , and throughout the English-speaking world.

    I have always had the Munro motto in mind which is Dread God (and obey his commandments because that is the whole duty of man).  BIODH EAGAL DHE OIRRE in Gaelic or Reverence you unto God.      It is a very ancient motto and reminds us that Munro is a Christian name -it means the descendant of the Men of the Halo River the Roe (the Saint’s River) a place name in Ireland. That is probably the first Bible quote I ever knew and I heard it at least from 1959. I think It helps to have God and a little religion in your life. But that’s just my opinion. People should have freedom of conscience and choose their own paths. The only thing I go do is set a good example and invite people to consider the Good Life as I see it and seek it.

    An ancient motto I have known since at least 1960 is NE OBLIVISCARIS  do not forget.  This was the Regimental motto of my grandfather’s old Regiment 1914-1919, the Thin Red Line of Heroes (The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders)  At Balaklava in the Crimean War, the Argylls were called the Gaelic Rock.  If they had failed the entire British and Allied army may have been destroyed but they calmly spread out in a thin line of two, fixed bayonets and fired aimed volley after volley from their Enfield Rifles.  Their commander Sir Colin Campbell said, “Lads, we have to stop them or fall in the effort.”  The Argylls near him said to him laconically, “Aye,  we’ll stand until you give the order.”  The war correspondents who were present were astonished at their discipline and cool courage.    The Thin Red Line of Heroes became a symbol of the courage and professionalism of the British Army but especially the Scottish Highland Regiments. Many of my ancestors served in Highland Regiments.

    And of course, I am a loyal man so SEMPER FIDELIS (always faithful) is a motto also. This is the motto of the US Marine Corps.

    Another motto is CUIMHNICH AIR NA DAOINE BHON TAINIG TUSA  (REMEMBER THE PEOPLE YOU CAME FROM). 

    I believe marriage is a sacrament and I have always been loyal to my wife and family putting their security and happiness above everything else.   

    I face firmly towards the future but never forget the past.  I know in a long journey some things have to be left behind. 

    I only wish for my granddaughters and future grandchildren that they will have strong faith, good values, a good education, and the warmth and security of a good family.

    For that is the duty of a good man, a good father, and a good husband. If you live a good life you will want to live a long life and I think you have a better chance for achieving a long life. 

    Daily writing prompt
    What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?
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