Reid Burke

Teddy Roosevelt’s speech in Paris, France on April 23, 1910:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

The last few months have been full of family life and hard work. The last few days were marked by grief at the assassination of Charlie Kirk while he was in the arena. I have prioritized meeting with important people in my life to encourage them. This is a time for courage (Job 32, Revelation 21:8) and to silence evil with good works (Proverbs 14:23).

The question must not be merely, Is there to be peace or war? The question must be, Is it right to prevail? Are the great laws of righteousness once more to be fulfilled? And the answer from a strong and virile people must be ‘Yes,’ whatever the cost.

See you in the arena.

Russell Power provides software engineering examples and advice for the exploration-explotation dilemma:

How much energy should we invest into getting “just this next bug fixed and working” versus taking a sip of tea and then you should change your approach or change your job?

Mayor Matt Mahan wants to end homelessness in San Jose neighborhood by neighborhood.

When it comes to my proposal that we use a brief, targeted interaction with the criminal justice system to compel those who repeatedly refuse private shelter to instead engage with treatment, we’ve been talking a lot lately about the moment of accountability. The moment where things get so bad that we need to take action to help those suffering and the broader community. But we don’t talk a lot about the many moments that come before and the many moments that will come after because of our action at this critical juncture.

So let’s start from the beginning.

Matt Mahan is leading the way. Others need to step up. The County of Santa Clara has a responsibility to build out treatment beds. Judges need to make wise judgements. I hope this policy will free people from addiction and suffering. Go read the Mayor’s plan. Let’s make it our reality together.