and I am taking the road less taken by and that makes all the difference

[JohnKleeb]

Ive heard Dennis Kucinich speak and I thought he had a great vision. Not only did this man oppose the war, he tried his best to do something about it and he spoke to those who marched against the war. He has a history of standing up for whats right. He can win where others have failed. His love of the ideal of peace is something that the great MLK and Gandhi would love. So I opt to take the road less taken by and that will in time make all the difference. Thanks to Robert Frost for the poem which I like.

[sfecap]

1. John, you inspire me....

(I posted this on another thread, but I want to post it for you again...)

I know that you are young enough to be my son...your interest, your enthusiasm, your willingness to to listen and discuss other ideas is an inspiration.

When I read your posts here I realize that the youth of our country are truly our future. They are not lost. And knowing that there are many like you makes me believe there is hope...great hope for all of our futures. You will be the ones that will create what we all aspire to. I only hope we can leave you something to work with...

Never stop believing.

Never, ever, give up!

[King Bush II]

2. hmmm

thats beautiful man. if we can all rally behind kucinich i believe that we will be on the right track for getting rid of bush and restoring this country to being the great nation it once was.

Vote Kucinich in 2004

[JohnKleeb]

4. thank you

This road may not be crowded now :) but in the end we will be there, and that will make the difference. We must not ever give in to fear. Kucinich knows what being poor is like, and his education plan need I say no more is something I would love, it would make the nation smarter and less sheepish too.

[JohnKleeb]

18. thanks

[kixot]

3. Be careful quoting that Frost poem.

If you read it carefully you'll see that it's a lament, not a celebration. He laments having taken the road less traveled and admits that it was "not better, not worse, just as fair" and "really about the same". If you don't want to take it from me, take it from Frost who said in a 1953 interview: "I wasn't thinking about myself there, but about a friend who had gone off to war, a person who, whichever road he went, would be sorry he didn't go the other. He was hard on himself that way."

Check this link out for more info:

http://www.fculittle.org/sermons/Road_Less_Traveled.html

p.s. Sorry to hijack the thread like that, I just have to let people know when they use that poem for misunderstood reasons.

[JohnKleeb]

6. I thought the beauty of poetry

was intepretion
That said I could have refered to it as a crossroads, thats what I called the times of RFK, and this is one.

[kixot]

14. Popular misconception.

It's one thing to hypothesize the meaning of a poem correctly and it's another to do so incorrectly despite countering evidence in the poem and from the poet himself. I'm not knocking your intent here, it just sends alarms going in my head when someone uses Frost's poem as a celebration of making a "less traveled by" decision when he really inteded it as a attack on self justification through the permanence of indicision. When I write a poem it has an intended meaning and any atempt to misconstrue my purpose I consider an incorrect interpretation. Though, if you follow the deconstructionist school of though I guess it's all fair game. I'll stop now.

[JohnKleeb]

17. yeah I guess I do follow deconstructionist school

Its ok.

[roughsatori]

5. Here's a link to Frost reading the poem

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost

If you go to this link you can hear the poem read by Robert Frost himself:
http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=1645

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

[JohnKleeb]

8. beautiful just beautiful

[roughsatori]

16. John, don't be that concerned with the poets intention

Even I with my academic and scholarly bent in approaching poetry ultimately turn to myself in understanding a poem. (As Henry Miller wrote: "Everything taught is a lie.")After a poem is written the poet no longer "owns" it, the reader does.

Over my life poems have changed their meaning as my mind and emotions experienced the moment of my condition.

William Wordsworth wrote a line about how when he was a young man he ran from what he feared instead of running to what he loved.

When I was your age I ran from what I feared the way Wordsworth did. You strike me as a young man running to what you love and that is admirable.(It took years for me to realize the difference.)

[sandnsea]

26. Here's something for you

"On the whole, although Frost's judgments about his own poetry were very sure, he rarely indulged in self-justification. About "The Road Not Taken," for example, which he knew was being misread by most readers, he remained enigmatically noncommital."

That's on this page, but wait...

http://www.frostfriends.org/FFL/Frost%20on%20writing%20-%20Barry/barryessay3.html

Go to this page and click on Critical Theorist

http://www.frostfriends.org/FFL/Frost%20on%20writing%20-%20Barry/barrytitle.html

Just kind of breeze along, don't try to digest it all, his words will jump right out at you. If you are at all interested in writing or poetry, some really cool things will just sweep you away.
Here's one:

"I say you cant read a single good sentence with the salt in it unless you have previously heard it spoken. Neither can you with the help of all the characters and diacritical marks pronounce a single word unless you have previously heard it actually pronounced. Words exist in the mouth not in books. You can't fix them and you dont want to fix them. You want them to adapt their sounds to persons and places and times. You want them to change and be different."

I think Robert Frost would appreciate the poetry that is you, I know I do!

[srpantalonas]

7. righteous

I marched against the first one but not this one, though I opposed it and oppose the continued presence of US forces without a substantial UN role. You're right--Kucinich has values and sticks to them. We need more of that. Carter wrote a book in 76 or so called "Why not the best?" about having a government as good as its people. DK really seems to carry that torch, as if we were all sitting around a campfire saying to ourselves "wouldn't it be great if...", but then those ideas actually persisted and we didn't get discouraged by the status quo, and the powers that control the country. Mention universal health care and suddenly you're a commie. Well, Nixon introduced it, and it's something we know is good for us, so why not the best? Mention fair trade and you get branded a protectionist, like that's a bad thing. Stand up against a war that is morally wrong on so many levels, and you get branded an unpatriotic, ungrateful liberal traitor. If we had more people with the courage of their convictions we'd be able to force all of that negative resistance to positive change. DK stands up for what he believes in and isn't afraid to speak his mind, and I admire him for that.

[JohnKleeb]

10. and youre running for senator right

Maybe if you win your nomination you can endorse him. Thanks so much, I am glad people share my view.

[King Bush II]

9. nice work

finally posting some articles about candidates besides dean and kerry. its nice to hear that there are more than two candidates out there. its also great to see people supporting their candidates WITHOUT bashing the other ones. Keep up the great work!

[MercutioATC]

11. I absolutely agree with you....idealistically....pragmatically, however...

I DO like what Dennis has to say. I don't agree with him on all of the issues, but I'm not 100% with my chosen candidate, either.

I LIVE in a Cleveland suburb. I KNOW what he did here. CPP is still the choice of Cleveland residents, as they offer lower-cost power.

I'm all in favor of Dennis as Mayor of Cleveland.

Again, I like what Dennis says, but I don't see ANYBODY getting single-payer healthcare through Congress. I just don't se his goals as realistic.

Support who you believe in in the primary. Support the Democratic nominee in the general.

[JohnKleeb]

12. I see what you mean

but you know the GOP congress will be a jerk to anyone, I will support the democrat nominee but I believe hes fighting for whats right, I am very stubborn but I think he has a good vision.

[diamondsoul]

13. Dog-gone it Mercutio!

;-)

Seriously, please take some time and consider what Kucinich getting the nomination would mean. Greens, Libertarians, Constitutional Law Party, Republicans (some do like him a LOT), and all those disillusioned people who just haven't heard him yet, plus the vast majority of the Democratic Party. Now you take all those people who are fed up with Bushco and tell me you honestly don't think we can take Congress too?! Come on, man think about it!

[JohnKleeb]

15. you know mercutio with respect

and I am not mad in the slighest bit but please let us rally. We have our reasons and you have yours. Think about the good that can happen with a Kucinich presidency. :) aye it will make a great tale to the grandchildren that said I am planning a birthday thread for DK.

[burr]

19. I am taking the rocky dirt road...

they call me rocky raccoon in the hills, and rabid ratman in church. :o

[JohnKleeb]

22. lol I was trying to be serious

but ok burr :)

[burr]

23. I know...

and it is always a tought decision to make. Kucinich is one of the most principled candidates in this race, and I may ultimately support him as well.

But unlike you, I wouldn't back Kucinich because it was the road less taken. I have always loved Robert Frost's poetry. But I must admit there is some evil mixed in with any of the puritan causes that I push. I will pick an agenda if it serves the national interests, based on its long term effects, but naturally my own selfish interests play a large role as well.

But I respect your opinion and approach to politics.

[JohnKleeb]

24. Look at his education plan

It serves our longterm goals, it will make the populace smarter. I actually have many reasons to support him.

[burr]

25. I support some of his education agenda...

I still think that centering this funding on "No Behind Left" is big mistake. Again, I believe that our education system is too standardized. Kids know that two times zero is zero, but some never learn that zero sets of two apples is zero apples. Nor do they learn the logic behind simple formulas like X squared plus Y squared equals Z squared. But why does one length times itself plus another side times itself equal the opposite side of the right angle, times itself in a right triangle? We know that the pythagorean theorum works, but why? Why does each side need to be squared in order to find the square of that missing side?

All the kids learn is that it works with right triangles, but not that the length of the sides on a triangle are determined by the degrees in their opposing angles.

Abstract thought is hardly a priority in a standized system that rushes them in, and then out to take their tests.

[George_Bonanza]

20. You're a good guy John

The way you feel about Kucinich is the way I feel about John Kerry. DK has some ideas that are great, but I seriously doubt they will come to pass in a Republican stronghold. I feel that Kerry represents that crucial step that you need to take before someone like Kucinich can become president. I feel that Kerry has a very strong liberal side with a unique boundary-crossing appeal due to his honourable military service and thoughtful plans that don't adhere to impractical ideologies.

But enough about Kerry, this is about your candidate, although you've honourable defended Kerry so much one would mistake you for one. Anyway, best of luck.

[JohnKleeb]

21. Thanks best of luck to your guy

I think he could do well in a republican stronghold thanks though, hes done well where others have failed in his district. Good luck and many thanks.

[burr]

27. Don't be getting those lonesome road blues...

:thumbsup:
<http://listproc.ucdavis.edu/archives/banjo-l/log9908/1362.html>

[JohnKleeb]

29. I wont be getting that

Win or lose the primary I will always be proud of him and if that makes me crazy so be it.

[LWolf]

28. I think what "makes all the difference"

is that Dennis doesn't back down. He is always giving his best to actually "do something about" anything that needs to be done.

It's our job to turn America on to "the road less taken." That's how we'll get DK into the WH!