My Personal Manifesto
Written on 03/09 at 05:02 PM by Andy Posner
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I am presently seated in an office. Behind me sunlight is banging its fist against a window whose shades are drawn, begging me to notice that Spring is arriving soon. Perhaps I should be doing work, but instead my mind has turned toward the broader sweep of history, time, philosophy and the role of the individual in the world (it should not be of great surprise that I am embracing such thoughts given that I am reading a biography of one of America’s greatest leaders: John Adams). I am contemplating the fact that people always seem to “act their age,” that they give in to the demands of “the real world” rather than adhere to the longings of their hearts, and I find myself longing to unfurl my personal manifesto like a flag and plant it deep into the soil of my being.
Poets fight fiercely against the constraints of physics and biology (let’s remember that Dylan Thomas wrote about how we should “rage, rage against the dying of the light) and, on rare occasions, they succeed. The words of Pablo Neruda, Federico García Lorca and Robert Frost emanate from their throats and make the earth upon which we stand tremble with their passion; that they are buried deep within that earth only serves to amplify the effect. And so it is for this reason that I, too, think, and feel, and write, for to take the violent passion that makes my flesh shudder with love and transform it into the sweet music of poetry, of entrepreneurship and of justice, is the greatest of endeavors.
A Literary Portrait
Written on 05/02 at 01:37 PM by Andy Posner
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Several months ago I received a request from Helen Mou, a Brown University Junior, to sit down for an interview for a writing class she was taking. The assignment was to write a literary portrait of a person of interest. I greatly enjoyed the process of being interviewed by Helen, and I think she did a great job of capturing my personality in the portrait. I want to thank Helen for choosing me and for putting so much care and attention into this work. Read on for the full-text of what Helen wrote.
A Fantastic Quote
Written on 04/07 at 02:50 PM by Andy Posner
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I wanted to share a fantastic quote by Albert Einstein:
The efforts of most human-beings are consumed in the struggle for
their daily bread, but most of those who are, either through fortune
or some special gift, relieved of this struggle are largely absorbed
in further improving their worldly lot. Beneath the effort directed
toward the accumulation of worldly goods lies all too frequently the
illusion that this is the most substantial and desirable end to be
achieved; but there is, fortunately, a minority composed of those who
recognize early in their lives that the most beautiful and satisfying
experiences open to humankind are not derived from the outside, but
are bound up with the development of the individual’s own feeling,
thinking and acting. The genuine artists, investigators and thinkers
have always been persons of this kind. However inconspicuously the
life of these individuals runs its course, none the less the fruits of
their endeavors are the most valuable contributions which one
generation can make to its successors.
Thoughts From Austin, Texas
Written on 02/14 at 04:48 AM by Andy Posner
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I am currently writing from a hotel room in Austin, Texas, where I am visiting for the second annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI-U) conference. Last year I attended with Mike, and this year I am representing the Capital Good Fund, along with two of our other core team members. On the flight out here I listened to recordings of Martin Luther King speeches, and reflected a great deal on the nature of greatness, the nature of history, and the nature of those that bend history in the direction of justice. I was amazed--and excited--to learn that from 1964 (after the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Bill) and his death in 1968, Dr. King devoted himself tirelessly not only to racial justice but also to poverty alleviation and peace. In fact, in some of his speeches and sermons, King even talks about the need for black owned financial institutions--something I find tremendously interesting as I work to create a borrower-owned, environmentally focused financial institutions.
But above all else, what stood out to me about Dr. King as I listened to his voice bellow from the past and pursue the future was the extent to which his entire mental and physical life was absorbed by the pursuit of justice. Long before he died at the hands of an assassin he had given up his life to his cause, and I began thinking about my own life, my own pursuits.
Who Does not Prefer Peace?
Written on 12/28 at 05:54 PM by Andy Posner
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As fighting flares in the land of monotheism, soldiers mass along the border between two nuclear states, extremism rages in the cradle of civilization, the stuff of life threatens to overheat the planet that sustains life and a superpower continues down its blind path of bombs, I pause to ask a simple question: who among us does not prefer peace? In truth, the answer is very, very few of us, but that extreme minority is responsible for fanning the flames that bring nations to war and destabilize the world. We cannot continue to allow that. It is time for the so-called “silent majoriy” to speak up against unspeakable acts, to leap forth with ideas, protests, actions that will prevent more madness. After all, when the dust settles there is still a gem of an orb rotating a mass of energy that provides so much life with sustenance. The great work of understanding the universe and creating a more just, equitable home for all is held back by weaponry, the people that employ them, and worst of all, the money that finances them. We live in an age willing to enrich itself by tearing others down, where the mindless pursuit of more comfort obscures the suffering of billions of people so deprived as to be unable to feed or clothe themselves. We know enough to understand the irrevocable connection between an injustice in one place and an action in another, yet we have yet to summon the courage to act on that knowledge. Who among us is willing to avoid making money on an investment that is legal, but unjust? Who among us is willing to forego still more luxury to enable that another may enjoy a meal, an opportunity, a life?
This New Year, let us commit to a shared responsibility. Let us recognize that if little girls in Afghanistan die while in school, then little girls in America will inherit a world that has lost their beauty, their ideas, their hope. Let us recognize that where we can we must act and where we cannot we must seek ideas, pressure others, and demand an end to injustice wherever it transpires. The global economic crisis is yet another sign of the way in which a few selfish people--Wall St. bankers, lax regulators--can cause untold suffering. But every day the decisions we make have repercussions around the world, like the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings that creates a ripple of air that leads to a hurricane. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend this is not the case. Let that be our New Year’s resolution.
Read on for a poem I wrote on this matter during the run up to the war in Iraq.
Love For the World
Written on 12/24 at 11:15 PM by Andy Posner
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Here in Los Angeles, where I am visiting my family, a steady rain is falling on the landscape of my childhood. When I was little, and adulthood was as distant a concept as the stars obscured by the rain I adore so much, I would press my face against the windows of my home and watch water fall from the sky, watch how the branches and the leaves and the creatures of the world would crane their necks to receive succor from the upper atmosphere. In those moments my love affair with the world began. I longed to caress the breezes, to embrace the play of light and shadow, to dissolve in the mists that rainy days would bring to me.
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Click here to download a PDF of my complete thesis. Questions and comments are much appreciated!
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