My deep and abiding love of the Constitution

“The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals: it is a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good. It is the duty of the people, therefore, in framing a constitution of government, to provide for an equitable mode of making laws, as well as for an impartial interpretation, and a faithful execution of them; that every man may, at all times, find his security in them.”

– Preamble to the 1780 Constitution of Massachusetts, written principally by John Adams in 1779

With regards to the Constitution, I count my journey as beginning in elementary school

When I was a kid, I read an illustrated children’s book about the American Revolution (shown below). This was the beginning of a lifelong interest in the American Revolution. But, although I didn’t know it then, this would eventually lead me to read the American State Papers – such as the Declaration of Independence and the (federal) Constitution. It would eventually lead me to study them in greater depth – and, particularly, the various influences on the United States Constitution. This would eventually become one of the ruling passions of my life. I count the journey as beginning in elementary school. I also remember an elementary-school teacher instructing us about the concepts of both separation of powers and checks & balances. But it was in middle school that I took my first civics class, and had my first real encounter with the Constitution.

An illustrated children’s book about the American Revolution

Why World War II continues to fascinate so many

World War II has been depicted in countless books, documentaries, and Hollywood movies. Some of these movies are basically action films of one sort or another. That is, they dramatize the contributions of those who fought for the various Allied nations. These films can take place on submarines and other warships, in bombers or fighter planes, or in various (often exotic) ground locations all over the world. Other films tell the stories of those who lived under Nazi or Japanese rule, with difficult decisions dropped on these unluckily-placed people. For example, some of them chose to escape, some of them chose to spy for the Allies, and others of them chose to collaborate with the Axis occupations of their own countries (sadly enough). Other films depict parts of the Holocaust, dramatizing the countless victims of the genocide. Other films (such as “Tora! Tora! Tora!”) ask big questions, like how we got involved in the war. I have even heard of a film about the efforts to prevent the Nazis from getting the atomic bomb. (More about that here.) Other films depict World War II code-crackers or spies, prisoners of war in Axis-controlled prison camps, or even the postwar Nuremberg trials. There are biographies of major leaders – such as FDR, Churchill, Patton, or Eisenhower. And there are countless stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Why is this? What is it about World War II that continues to fascinate people, all of these decades after it tore the world apart – and then altered the very map of the world itself?

Firefighters tackling a blaze amongst ruined buildings after an air raid – London, 1941

My experience with political philosophy in French

This is a follow-up to a blog post from 2014. (For this earlier post, click here.)

I wrote a post some years ago about my experience with French (available here), in which I told how I had used my French up to that time. I’ve done a number of things with my French since that time which merit an update of this post. These involve reading some political philosophers in the original – mainly Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Tocqueville. I have blog posts about each of these three individuals with a discussion of their respective ideas elsewhere, so I will not attempt to duplicate that coverage here. Rather, I will describe the experience of reading these men in the original French; and what it felt like to use my French in this new way.

François-Marie Arouet, better known as “Voltaire” – more about what I read from him later

If my life were a Twilight Zone episode …

“There is a Facebook dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as cyberspace and as time-wasting as infinity. It is the middle ground between momentous and mundane, between profundity and shallowness, and it lies between the pit of man’s boredom and the summit of his humor. This is the dimension of utter nonsense. It is an area which we call … the Twilight Zone.”

My experience with Spanish (Part 2)

This is a follow-up to a blog post from 2014. (For the earlier post, click here.)

I freely admit that I'm not a native speaker of Spanish, but my Spanish is not bad by Gringo standards. I have tried hard to learn the language in my adulthood, and improve it along the way. I have talked in a previous blog post about my taking college Spanish classes, watching movies with Spanish subtitles, reading scriptures in Spanish, and attending Spanish-language church services. In this blog post, I will try to update what I said earlier, and give some additional comments on Spanish endeavors that I have undertaken since then.

The church building where I attended Spanish-language church services in Prescott, Arizona

Where do I find Latin and Greek works in the original?

You might try the Loeb Classical Library, described at Wikipedia here and found at this website here. (The rest of this post is about how I searched for this prize.)

My search for the Hebrew Bible in the original

"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left."

- The Hebrew Bible, "The Second Book of Moses Called Exodus," Chapter 14, Verses 21 and 22 (as translated by the King James Version of the Bible)

I am an amateur Biblical scholar (emphasis on the "amateur"). I have been trying to learn Greek so that I can read the New Testament in the original one day. (Any observations about being a shameless nerd are readily agreed with.) Many are surprised to learn that the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament were originally written in Greek (rather than Hebrew), and a number have asked me why. The reason is actually that Greek was the international language of the time. It was the language that people published in if they wanted to reach a wide audience, and that was the case with the early New Testament.

By contrast, the Old Testament really was written in Hebrew - or at least, most of it was. Scholars believe that some of it may have originally been written in Aramaic - a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew. In the words of my church's Bible Dictionary: "The original language of most of the Old Testament is Hebrew, but a few portions ... were written in what is popularly called Chaldee, but more correctly Aramaic." (Source: Entry on Bible itself)

My church's edition of the Holy Bible

I then didn't have any plans to learn either Hebrew or Aramaic; as they are difficult languages for English speakers, and my primary Biblical interest was in the New Testament. Nonetheless, I thought that as long as I had a copy of the New Testament in the original Greek, I might as well complement it with a copy of the Old Testament in the original as well. Thus, I looked into what version to get; and found that this was easier said than done.

Learning Spanish from doing missionary work

"... every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power ..."

– The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Section 90, Verse 11

I once mentioned to my Spanish professor in 2012 that I was reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish to practice the language. Although this particular professor was not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints herself, she approved of this endeavor on the grounds of its tendency to improve my Spanish. She then asked me point-blank if I had served a mission for my church. I actually got the same question a year later from my employer of that time (specifically, my boss's boss). The man asking me the question this time around was not a Latter-Day Saint, either - which is probably an indication of what visible symbols of the church its missionaries are; with the young men in white shirts and ties being an internationally recognized symbol of my church's proselyting efforts.

Photo obtained from church website

The answer to their question is actually a complicated one (although it was probably less so then), and this is probably the first time that I have ventured to go into detail on this question. This answer depends somewhat on what your definition of a "mission" is, since it is not as straightforward as it sometimes seems. Thus, I will attempt to explain clearly what my religion means by that term, before I go into any sort of detail about whether my service would qualify for this honor.

Photo obtained from church website

Why I like political philosophy

"Philosophy is common sense with big words."

- Attributed to James Madison

Why political theory, instead of just political practice?

It is usually easy for others to understand why politics interests me - the market for political news is a considerable one, and the many ways that government affects our life (good and bad) create a great deal of public interest. But interest in political philosophy is not as common, so my fascination with it can be somewhat strange to others. Why would you read political works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries? Why would you read books about political theory, rather than focus more exclusively on how government works in practice? And why would you read something about government from Ancient Greece?

Plato, Greek philosopher

The history of ideas

Part of it is undoubtedly an interest in history: the study of political philosophy - and other kinds of philosophy, for that matter - has a long and rich history. There are good ideas and bad ideas; theories that work and theories that fail; so one can learn a lot about history by studying these things. But why focus on this kind of history? Why not the history of art, or music, or science? It should be noted that I do have an interest in these things as well; but the reason political philosophy engrosses me so much is that the ideas found in it are all around us. It's in the values we espouse - whether we value equality of condition, for example, or prefer equality of opportunity. It's in the assumptions we make - both the workable and the unworkable ones. And it's in the arguments we engage in: the dialogue about politics, both among and between the different camps; and the endless discussions about the best way to govern society.

Baron de Montesquieu, a political philosopher I like

Why I want to learn German

"Surely there is not another language that is so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp. One is washed about in it, hither and thither, in the most helpless way; and when at last he thinks he has captured a rule which offers firm ground to take a rest on amid the general rage and turmoil of the ten parts of speech, he turns over the page and reads, 'Let the pupil make careful note of the following exceptions.' He runs his eye down and finds that there are more exceptions to the rule than instances of it."

- Mark Twain's "The Awful German Language" (1880)

There are actually a number of reasons that I want to learn German. For starters, I am someone with a great interest in foreign languages. I talk at length in a previous post about my experience in learning French and Spanish. (If you haven't read this previous post, you might enjoy reading it first before you read this. Here's a link that leads to it.)

Mark Twain

The negative perception of German among some

But why German, rather than some other language? To be sure, the desire to learn German seems strange to some. It's perceived by many as the ugly language, and Mark Twain once wrote a tongue-in-cheek essay called "The Awful German Language." A girl in my first year of high school French said that telling someone "I love you" in German would sound ugly; and insulting someone in French would sound beautiful. I'm not completely sure why Americans perceive these languages this way, but it seems quite clear that they do. French is perceived as a romantic language (especially by women), and German is perceived as an angry language.

Charlie Chaplin spoofs Hitler speech in his movie "The Great Dictator" (1940)

Why I want to read philosophy in other languages

It is well-known among my friends that I am a foreign language buff. Some of my friends also know that I am a philosophy buff as well. These things might seem to be totally separate from each other, and to some degree they really are. But there is one way I'd like to combine them, which is to read some philosophy written in French, German, or Greek without the aid of translation. Why would anyone want to do this, you may be wondering? This post attempts to explain it.

Why I majored in marketing

This post expands upon a story from a previous blog post, linked to here.

My experience with French

"♪ Allons enfants de la Patrie / Le jour de gloire est arrivé! ♪" ("♪ Oh come, ye children of the Fatherland / the day of glory has arrived! ♪")

- Opening lines of "La Marseillaise" (1792), which became the French national anthem in 1795 (and remains such today)

Many of my Facebook friends have seen my posts about Spanish, and the various ways in which I have tried to learn the language. My experience with French is not as well-known to my friends, because I have tended not to share it as publicly. But I actually became fluent in French before I became fluent in Spanish. One of my other posts details my high school and college class experience in learning the language, so suffice it to say here that I took the equivalent of two years of college French. Those who want to know more about my experience with French classes are advised to read this blog post. I will focus this blog post on my efforts since that time.

Why I'm glad I learned French

“English and French are the official languages of Canada and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and government of Canada.”

– Canada's “Constitution Act, 1982,” Part I, Section 16 – a major part of the Constitution of Canada, known as the “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” (1982)

I have posted much on Facebook about my attempts to learn Spanish, so my Facebook friends know a lot about my interest in the language. But I have not posted as much about French, perhaps because I learned it long before I ever joined Facebook. I'm not often asked why I learned Spanish, because the local usefulness of the language is well known here; but people sometimes wonder why I learned French. Thus, I decided to write this post to explain.

My experience with Spanish

"♪ Mexicanos, al grito de guerra / el acero aprestad y el bridón. Y retiemble en sus centros la Tierra, al sonoro rugir del cañón. ♪" ("♪ Mexicans, at the cry of war, assemble the steel and the bridle, and the Earth trembles to its core to the resounding roar of the cannon. ♪")

- Chorus of "Mexicanos, al grito de guerra" ("Mexicans, at the cry of war,"), adopted as the national anthem of Mexico (or the "Himno Nacional Mexicano") in 1854

Those who know me know that I am a language enthusiast. I have spent a lot of time trying to learn other languages, and learning languages like Ancient Greek (or even French or German) would make me a bit unusual. But my trying to learn Spanish generally doesn't raise any eyebrows. The perception that "everybody speaks it" is (for some) an argument against learning it, as they value being different for the sake of difference. But for a practical person like me, the large number of Spanish speakers is an excellent argument for learning the language, because it grants you access to the hearts, minds, and wallets of a large population. To be sure, this is why the Spanish language is so commonly taught in the Southwest, because the practical benefits of Spanish fluency are attractive to many.

My search for the Greek New Testament

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

- The New Testament, "The Gospel According to St. Matthew," Chapter 7, Verses 7 and 8 (as translated by the King James Version of the Bible)

Many of you have heard that I am learning Ancient Greek, and that part of the reason for doing so is to be able to read the New Testament in the original. I was curious to see how hard it is to obtain a copy of that online (emphasis on "copy" - not to be confused with original manuscripts), and so I typed it into Google. I discovered that there are a large variety of different editions, some published by one group, some by another. This was a bit of a problem, as I needed to commit to one version for price reasons, and it's hard to know which one to pick.

Confessions of a Facebooker

It's probably been suspected by some, but I plan the vast majority of my Facebook statuses weeks in advance. With some posts (like those about historical anniversaries), I even plan months in advance, and schedule them for particular days.

Going to church in a foreign language

"We would … hope that every missionary learning a new … language would master it in every way possible. … And as you do so, your [teaching] and testifying skills will improve. You will be better received by and more spiritually impressive to [the people you teach]. … Don’t be satisfied with what we call a missionary vocabulary only. Stretch yourself in the language, and you will gain greater access to the hearts of the people ... "

– Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in a missionary satellite broadcast from August 1998, as quoted in "Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service," Chapter 7

I once regularly attended services for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in both English and Spanish. My native language is English, and I did not take a real Spanish class until January 2012, when I was in my twenties. I had only taken Spanish 101 when I started going to Spanish Branch (branch being the word that Latter-Day Saints use for a small congregation). It was a difficult (albeit fascinating) experience when I started going.

The local church building where Spanish services were held