See the movie. Get inspired. Take some action…
…For your great-grandchildren. David Brooks reviewed Lincoln, the movie, in his New York Times column a few weeks ago. He began the article, “We live in an anti-political moment, when many people — young people especially — think politics is a low, nasty, corrupt and usually fruitless business. It’s much nobler to do community service or just avoid all that putrid noise.”And, after presenting a convincing argument, his review ended with,
Politics doesn’t produce many Lincolns, but it does produce some impressive people, and sometimes, great results. Take a few hours from the mall. See the movie.
I heeded his advice and saw the movie in Mystic, CT on 12-8-12. And I was not disappointed. The thing that struck me most about Abraham Lincoln was his powerful vision—coupled with a great combination of uncommon commitment, focus, and skill necessary to make that vision a reality.
A scene from one of the darkest hours of the war—when he visits a battlefield where thousands of lives were sacrificed for the good of billions of lives in future generations.
As the Civil War drew to a close in 1865, Mr. Lincoln intuitively knew that he was in a very special place at a very special time and that it was his destiny to do the right thing—regardless of the odds. And with those odds stacked heavily against him regarding the controversial 13th Amendment to abolish slavery, he persevered to the bitter end—ultimately winning by the narrowest of margins.
It was almost like being down in a football game 49-0 at the end of the third quarter—only to pull out a 51-49 victory as the clock expires.
How great was his accomplishment? Arguably the greatest accomplishment of any American president ever. It established the United States of America on the world stage as the superpower of the future—the one that would become known as the nation willing to sacrifice almost anything to protect the freedom and dignity of all of its citizens, regardless of race, color, creed, national origin or sex. So how did Mr. Lincoln pull it off? As Brooks explained,
It shows that you can do more good in politics than in any other sphere. You can end slavery, open opportunity and fight poverty. But you can achieve these things only if you are willing to stain your own character in order to serve others — if you are willing to bamboozle, trim, compromise and be slippery and hypocritical.
The human race is unknowingly destroying the ecosystem that sustains life on Earth as we know it. It will take an uncommon combination of vision and leadership to get us all back on the right track before it’s too late.
Time for even greater vision and leadership. Without a doubt, Lincoln will be remembered as one of the greatest visionaries and leaders of all time—even though he had to do a little bamboozling and compromising as he proved that sometimes the end does indeed justify the means.
Hooray for Lincoln and for all that he did—but my question is this? Which great leader is going to step forward with a powerful vision as it relates to the longterm sustainability of the human race? And what issue—past, present or future—could be move important than that?
Everyone knows that we have an obesity crisis, a health care crisis, a global warming crisis, a world hunger crisis, and a serious water crisis. But hardly anyone seems to know that the simple answer to all of the above—is an organized, deliberate and urgent move in the direction of a whole foods, plant-based diet for the human race.
Only a few of the world’s scientists have figured out that the human race is well along the path of destruction that will compromise nature’s ability to sustain life on this planet as we know it. Some scientists, as reported in the movie HOME, have predicted that unless we make some rigorous changes in how we’re “using” the planet by the year 2019, that we may have passed the point of no return.
The Bottom Line. We need another Lincoln now—at the right place at the right time. How ironic that that person might be the president whose destiny was only possible but for the actions of President Lincoln 147 years ago.
Presidents Obama and Clinton at the 2012 Democratic Convention
As I have blogged recently, President Barack Obama is the ONLY president that we’ve ever had who truly understands the consequences of how we’re using our planet to feed ourselves. Like Lincoln, he is at the right place at the right time—with the right knowledge and skills to get the job done.
And he has the most popular ex-President in our generation as an ally. Both Mr. Obama and Mr. Clinton have the knowledge and they have the political skills to make a HUGE difference in the next four years. But, even with all those things working in their favor, their task will be anything but easy. As David Brooks said,
If anything, the movie understates how hard politics can be. The moral issue here is a relatively clean one: slavery or no slavery. Most issues are not that simple.
And one of those issues that is not that simple is the one we’re facing about our “food choices” and the sustainability of our species. But, without a doubt, there’s never been a more important issue.
Let’s do all we can to promote the “Obama-Clinton” team to pull some Lincoln-esque levels of vision, commitment and focus out of their bag.
- Source article. Why We Love Politics by David Brooks – NYTimes.com
- My earlier blog with video illustrating Mr. Obama’s knowledge about our food choices. Did you know that Obama really “gets it” about food?
- My “sustainability” blog. Forget “saving the planet.” Think great grandchildren.
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This is my 674th consecutive daily blog and my streak will come to an end in 56 days—after two full years of daily blogging. But don’t worry; all of my previous work will remain here for your convenience and I will continue to post blogs several times a month.
But my primary focus will be a full-time effort to help selected corporate clients implement food-focused wellness initiatives aimed at promoting health and slashing the cost of health care in businesses.
Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com
- The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD
- Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
- An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
- Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.
Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com
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J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.
For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.
Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.
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Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.
—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation
J. Morris Hicks, engineer. writer. big picture guy. 
I agree with Joanne. This particular post should be sent to Pres. Obama, Mrs. Obama, Pres. Clinton, the NYT, etc., etc. We can never give up. I “work on” people all the time by taking any opportunity that presents itself to talk about health, “health care” costs, the future of the human race, and the horrendous treatment of animals. Pres. Obama may “like a steak now and then” – that just means he needs to know more about ALL of the ramifications of eating meat. Once you know everything, you not only don’t crave it, the idea of eating it is abhorrent to you.
Jim, today’s blog was brilliantly written. And Sal and Joanne, I’ll never give up trying to spread my influence: my relatively new-found food knowledge (2 1/2 years), my resources to share, my food modeling, and my dwindling health problems. Yesterday, I was at a holiday party where I was able to eat properly, and an acquaintance asked me about my food choices. I was able to share the above, and she left with some hope for her and her husband’s health problems.
Agreed, one person at a time is NOT ENOUGH, but it’s a beginning.
Just watched the movie “Home” through the You Tube link. A wonderful message, but did they really spell “Chile” as Chili” during the credits? Looks like I was the first viewer. Hope your reference gives the film more visibility.
And even if we had another “Lincoln” to influence our change to a plant foods diet (?)
I attended a dinner at a New Jersey Italian restaurant Sunday. As I sat there eating a terrible vegan dish which the obese chef prepared for me at the request of my son, I watched as the other twenty guests gorged themselves on all the high fat, high salt Italian delicacies, glistening with olive oil.
These twenty guests were all overweight with five being obese, “oohing and aahing” how good the food was all oblivious to the damage they were doing to themselves.
Jim, these people just don’t care about plant food diets. They look at me, thin as I am, as some kind of freak, a human aberration who only eats “grass”. And who will surely suffer from protein and calcium deficiency eventually. Can you imagine, these pathetic people, fat and diabetic and some with heart disease, making fun of me, the senior (87).
Even if America had ten “Lincolns,” the way Americans eat, a national tragedy in the making, will never change. Bill Clinton, after his heart surgery and then his change to a supposedly plant food diet has made no impact on the SAD. And Obama, forget it, he likes a good “steak.” Whole Foods CEO may be vegan but his stores still sell junk food. It never ends as the beat goes on.
So who will the “messiah” be and where will he/she come from, who will deliver us from our evil ways. If there is no “messiah” . . . no deliverance from our evil ways . . . then America is doomed.
Sal, HOPE is our mainstay. Against all odds Lincoln achieved the unimaginable. Would slaves have dreamed that their bondage would be abolished in 1865? My guess is – hardly. For all of us who know that a plant based lifestyle is the answer to both the health crisis and our planet’s sustainability concerns, we have to keep pushing – writing letters, blogging, teaching, spreading the message. Whatever we believe and can conceive, we will achieve. It may not be in our lifetimes, but it will happen.
Jim, the comparison between Lincoln’s actions and today’s crisis is masterful. Time to send THIS blog to Presidents Obama and Clinton, and some key leaders in Congress; Michelle Obama, too. Personally, this blog should be published in the NY Times. No holds barred. Flood the media. Contact Mika on MSNBC. Together, we need to hold HOPE that we will be the change we want to happen, for the sake of our children, grandchildren, and future generations.