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‘Tis the Season In Defense of Valentines, Romance & Lovebirds

While she lies sleeping, I rise and finish my poem to my best beloved, in which I recall those sweet, brief glimpses of her that glow ever in my memory and fuel my soul.  It will get penned onto a large paper heart and, after reading it to her over breakfast, it will join the others in the countless clutter of scribbled love verses published on the north wall of our house.  The remainder of our Valentines Day ritual involves lobster, highly-over-priced Champagne, a trek of recollection down some wooded trail, and other intimacies.  After all, what is life without love and what is love without celebration?

Now I realize that behind the sound of my popping the cork, murmurs the call from all those unlovely folks spouting the commercialism and silliness of Valentines Day.  Masking their fear with cynicism, they insist we should plunk our minds onto more serious matters – presumably the rapes, corruptions, and murders that fill our nightly “News You Need to Know” columns.  Yet my personal crusade for glee, laughter, and the volcanic passion of love, claims as honored an intellectual pedigree as any of those whose preachments would send us ever down rabbit holes of endless anxiety.

I refer to philosophy’s 18th century crew of visionary thinkers – The Romantics.  These poets, writers, and students of life looked inward, seeking and examining the full potential of the human personality. Romantics hung their first glance on the ideal – studying the potential and imaginatively catapulting it into a path for brilliance.   They were preoccupied with the hero and the genius that glows as a waiting ember within each of us.   So this February 14, I invite you to love like a Romantic – cut loose.  Seek that that absolute best and powerful potential of those you love and then whip up a little joyful hoopla in gratitude that such wonders of love float dazzlingly around us.

Have fun,

– Bart Jackson

Dale Caldwell – Takes Helm of Centenary University

His hand on my shoulder, Dale stated enthusiastically, “We can change the world from here.”  Every once in a rare while the exact right leader finds a perfect fit with the exact right team.  And I was fortunate to witness this on October 21st when the idealistic, energetically inventive Dr. Dale Caldwell donned the President’s robes and was invested with the leadership of the refreshingly progressive faculty and students of the 156-year-old Centenary University based in Hackettstown, New Jersey.

Currently, Dale serves as founding head of the Dale Caldwell Foundation, and the Entrepreneur Zones movement which battles poverty in distressed communities by developing new businesses.  Previously, Dale served as head of Farleigh Dickinson University’s Rothman Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, working to promote family businesses and the Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards.  For President Caldwell,  Centenary offers an ideal platform.  An impressive number of the 1,200 undergraduate students take active part in ENACTUS, an national organization that guides collegiates into entrepreneurial enterprises as a catalyst for progress.  Prior to the inaugural ceremony, Dale and several undergraduates celebrated his  donating supplies to a local food pantry and books to a nearby correctional facility.

In his address, Dr. Caldwell noted that “Within our institutions of higher education we possess ample and necessary brainpower and energy to solve all the problems facing our society.”  It seems only fitting that the Centenary mascot is the cyclone.  Keep your eyes on this whirlwind center of innovative learning… where “changing the world” becomes a practical mission.

Speaking of Honor…

You should have seen our CEO appealing to the board of directors’ sense of honor.  It was like watching a violinist trying to saw down a tree: he had the right motion, he just was using the wrong tool.

Afterthought.  Alas, greed and fear of greedy shareholders can all too often blanket board members’ vision of pursuing the honorable course.  Thus the wise CEO is one who can lead her team along a profitable path to the most ethical decisions.