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AMAC Yesteryear a column

The Long View

Reflective essays on poetry, wisdom and the timeless truths worth living by.

Every week · About the author

Bobby Charles

Recent essays

  1. Why Theodore Roosevelt's Call to American Ideals Still Matters Today Born 168 years ago this month, Roosevelt argued in his 1895 essay "American Ideals" that a leader's deeds shape national character long after the man is gone.
  2. The Scout Law: Twelve Words That Still Guide Us Today In 1908, Baden Powell wrote twelve words scouts still live by: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, brave, reverent — and dishonor meant expulsion from scouting.
  3. What We Can Learn From The Inklings' Lost Art of Conversation In 1933, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien joined a club that met at an Oxford pub to argue over religion and politics without anger, judgment, or a single word of offense.
  4. Joshua Chamberlain: The Faith Behind a Civil War Hero Trained for the seminary, Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge at Little Round Top on July 3, 1863, holding the Union line after his men ran out of ammunition.
  5. Integrity and Freedom: Why Character Still Defines True Leadership Eisenhower called integrity the supreme quality for leadership, and Camus and Emerson agreed the standard comes from within, judged by conscience alone rather than any rulebook.
  6. Longfellow’s “A Day of Sunshine”: Finding Joy in Every Season In 1872, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow answered autumn's gloom with "A Day of Sunshine," a poem that finds a blessing in every season, from cherry blooms to winter drifts.
  7. Why Wonder Still Matters in the Age of Artificial Intelligence As the world outsources thinking to AI, Socrates offered a warning worth remembering: "Wonder is the beginning of wisdom," and a mind that stops wondering goes dead.
  8. Alvin Toffler’s Warning – Do Not Trade Judgement for AI Toffler predicted work-from-home and attacks on religion and the nation-state, and warned that schools pushing AI would shut off our ability to think.

From the column

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May 20261 essay

Everything by Bobby Charles