Coolidge: A Personal Analysis

Shortly after leaving the Presidency of the United States, Coolidge looks back on his whole life and relates the wisdom of his experiences. No time was more important for instilling values than his early years in the hill country of Vermont, among “the evergreen and hardwood trees.” (4). He grew up without amenities, a simple “[c]ountry life,” (33) which, he remembers, “is neither artificial nor superficial, but is kept close to the realities.” (33) Looking back, he waxes nostalgic, “if I had the power to order my life anew I would not dare to change that period of it. If it did not afford me the best that there was, it abundantly provided the best that there was for me.” ( page)

I find similar values instilled in myself, but values not determined
Like Coolidge, I also believe that the world needs people empowering others so they can have the power to help themselves. His words “power over the future depends on what [s]he does with [her] in the present”(page) have become like a mantra to me. Determinism is overcome by Determination. In Gachibowli we donated our schoolbooks to the boys in the orphanage for this reason. I knew that I could not stay to educate them--but I could jumpstart their education and give them the fishing pole, hoping they could then bring their goodness into the world.

Coolidge, who served the rising power of the United States in the decade following the worst war in human history, writes of the basic question of whether man is good or evil. But his philosophy is never far removed from practice: “But while I am not disposed to minimize the amount of evil in the world I am convinced that the good predominates, and that it is constantly all about us, ready for our service if we accept it” (52). I accept it. I accept my call to use my goodness to the service of my fellow human beings. My drastic career choice--Doctors without Borders--stems from this idea. What’s the point of living if we don’t somehow add a piece of ourselves as a legacy to this