Jim Medding’s Blog

When I read a good history book, I’m frequently amazed at how relevant a quote from many years ago is to current affairs. Such was the case when I read the following quote in David McCullough’s John Adams. The time was early in the year of 1776. Belligerent actions had been taken on the part of both sides and the colonies had made numerous attempts to bring about peace all to no avail. Still, some wanted to try again. John Adams had the following to say about these conciliatory measures:

I constantly insisted that all such measures, instead of having any tendency to produce a reconciliation, would only be considered as proofs of our timidity and want of confidence in the ground we stood on, and would only encourage our enemies to greater exertions against us.

I work with people from, literally, all over the world. Not long ago, our manager setup a “Root Beer Floats and Summer” meeting where, it turned out, she announced she was taking a job with a different group. On the way to the meeting, I had to explain to several people what a root beer float is and what root beer is. Fortunately, ice cream toppings were provided for those who couldn’t bring themselves to try the root beer-ice cream combination.