Gerard Mohar

“I'm Losing Faith in My Favorite Country

Throughout my life, the United States has been my favorite country, save and except for Canada, where I was born, raised, educated, and still live for six months each year. As a child growing up in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, I aggressively bought and saved baseball cards of American and National League players, spent hours watching snowy images of American baseball and football games on black and white television and longed for the day when I could travel to that great country. Every Saturday afternoon, me and the boys would pay twelve cents to go the show and watch U.S. made movies, and particularly, the Superman serial. Then I got my chance. My father, who worked for B.F. Goodrich, took my brother and me to watch the Cleveland Indians play baseball in the Mistake on the Lake in Cleveland. At last I had made it to the big time. I thought it was an amazing stadium and it was certainly not a mistake. Amazingly, the Americans thought we were Americans.

I loved the United States, and everything about the country: its people, its movies, its comic books, its sports, and a great deal more. The country was alive and growing. No, exploding. It was the golden age of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The American dream was alive and well, but demanded hard work, honesty, and frugality. Everyone understood that. Even the politicians.

Then everything changed.”
― Stephen Douglass

“I knew I rode a rugged crest of turmoil that might crash on the rocky shore of irrational behavior.”
― Gabriel F.W. Koch, Death Leaves a Shadow

“The reality is that the lives of the smallest patients are in our hands, and their clinical condition can change in an instant. No matter how many times you are involved in situations such as this, the physical stress and anxiety as well as the emotional and psychological effects of being immersed in that environment are dramatic and lasting on the human body, mind, and central nervous system. These effects are severe, and I firmly believe that they are cumulative over your lifetime.”
― DEAN MAFAKO, M.D., Burned Out

“وهذه القوة المدهشة في ذنـَب الحوت لا تنحو أبدا لعرقلة التـّثني الرشيق في حركاته، حيث اليُسر الرشيق يتموّج من خلال جبروت القوة. بل العكس هو الصحيح: فإن تلك الحركات تستمد جمالها الباهر منها، فالقوة الحق لا تـُشوِّه الجمال أو الانسجام، وإنما تمنحها للشيء القوي، وفي كل شيء جميل آسر الجمال تلعب القوة دورا سحريا.”
― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, The Whale