by Herbert Hoover
Former President of the United States
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"The nation is proudest and noblest and most exalted which
has the greatest number of really great men."
-Sinclair Lewis
Recently, in my opinion there has been too much talk about the Common
Man. It has been dinned into us that this is the Century of the
Common Man. The idea seems to be that the Common Man has come into
his own at last.
Thus we are in danger of developing a cult of the Common Man,
which means a cult of mediocrity. But there is at least one helpful
sign: I have never been able to find out who this Common Man is. In fact,
most Americans, and especially women, will get mad and fight if you
try calling them common.
This is hopeful because it shows that most people are holding fast
to an essential fact in American life. We believe in equal opportunity
for all, but we know that this includes the opportunity to rise to
leadership - in other words, to be uncommon.
Let us remember that the great human advances have not been
brought about by mediocre men and women. They were brought about
by distinctly uncommon people with vital sparks of leadership.
Many of the great leaders were, it is true, of humble origin,
but that alone was not their greatness.
It is a curious fact that when you get sick you want an
uncommon doctor; if your car breaks down you want an uncommonly
good mechanic; when we get into war we want dreadfully an uncommon
admiral and an uncommon general.
I have never met a father and mother who did not want their children
to grow up to be uncommon men and women. May it always be so. For
the future of America rests not in mediocrity, but in the constant
renewal of leadership in every phase of our national life.
(這是美國總統對美國公民的期許 也許 有值得借鏡的地方也不一定)
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