Occasionally the Academic Anchor explores the relationship between virtue and the academic life. (See: “Open Door Policy in Academia“, “Five Tests of the Teacher – William DeWitt Hyde“, “Joshua Chamberlain – When the Soul Overmasters Sense“, “The ‘Simple Gifts’ of Academia“, “Virtue and Elocution“, “Business: a Virtuous Profession“). Today I have returned from Thanksgiving break to ‘finish-up’ the fall semester. Frenzy seems to prevail as final projects and review for final exams rule the day. I ran across the following reflection from Albert Einstein. Here he reflects on the ideals that gave him the courage to move forward. I share this with faculty and students alike:“I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves — this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts — possessions, outward success, luxury — have always seemed to me contemptible.”Source: A. Einstein, Ideas and Opinions, based on Mein Weltbild, edited by Carl Seelig, New York: Bonzana Books, 1954 (pp. 8-11).
In gratitude, let us humbly reflect upon all the gifts (family, friends, health) that permeate our lives. Out of the abundance, may we offer our resources to help others.
– from the pen of Dr. Percy Trappe
The Academic Anchor 
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