From a distance.

Deciding the instruments we want to be.

When accusations fly, in every arena from the public sector to private enterprise, it becomes clear that players too close to the game generally lose perspective. Gaining in this world, in all endeavors, requires stepping back on a regular basis to examine not just others but ourselves. In assessing the collateral damage created by unbridled maneuvers of power — including unchecked rhetoric and convenient memory lapses over our own machinations — we must consider how stakeholders eventually rise to action. They seek and find the leaders who put ideals first and deploy their own ambition in that context.

Astronauts’ Glimpse of the Earth. Alma W. Thomas. 1974. Acrylic on canvas. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Kainen. National Air and Space Museum.

The Churchill wilderness years

James Humes. The Churchill wilderness years have been likened to the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, who pleaded in the desert for the people of Israel to change their ways. Others compare him to Cassandra, the prophetess of Troy whom Apollo cursed with always being unheeded. The best comparison is that of the Athenian orator Demosthenes, who wielded his rhetorical gifts to warn of the military threat from Philip II of Macedon. … Churchill’s warnings … were not simply about the numbers of tanks and planes. Armaments alone, he understood, were not the cause of war; it was the character and designs of a nation’s leaders that determined war or peace.

In Pursuit: Abraham Lincoln by Barack Obama

Born in a log cabin of pioneer stock, Lincoln cleared a path through the woods as a boy, lost his mother and a sister to the rigors of frontier life, and taught himself everything he knew. He understood, perhaps better than anyone, what it means to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and how personal liberty and self-reliance are at the heart of the American experience. But Lincoln also understood something else. He recognized that while each of us must do our part, work as hard as we can, and be as responsible as we can — in the end, there are certain things we cannot do on our own. There are certain things we can only do together. There are certain things only a union can do.

Squabble State draws the line on ordinary cider

Joe Tennis. This, of course, was not a real state. According to legend and lore, residents living in the disputed territory — now home to the cidery and much of Bristol, Virginia-Tennessee — may have struggled to vote or have their ballots counted.

Behind the song: From a Distance

Julie Gold. In 1985, just before my 30th birthday, my parents sent me the piano I grew up playing. I had just served as a juror on an emotionally trying case, my brother had just married, and I was questioning my life to date, wondering what my future could possibly hold. I took the day off work to be home when my piano arrived, and I remember how it glistened in the sun as the movers lowered it off the truck. My piano. My truest love and friend. My confidante. Back together again after all these years. … “From a Distance” just poured out of me. On one hand, it took me two hours to write. On the other hand, it took me 30 years.

“From a distance, we are instruments
Marching in a common band
Playing songs of hope
Playing songs of peace
They're the songs of every man.”