Kor writes, “The academic world that I entered is gone. [Replaced by the politically correct abominations which he denounces] I teach for my students, whom I love, and I fight for intellectual pluralism, for legal equality and for fairness simply because it is my duty to bear witness to the values I cherish, with no expectation of success.”

Freud had it right when asked the question “What should human beings be able to do well?” He reportedly answered “Lieben und Arbeiten” – to love and to work. To this aphorism (perhaps an apocryphal one) Kors adds an important corollary “with no expectations of success”.

It is this value; the love of a job well done without the garantee of success, which cuts through the difference between plumbing and pure mathematics. Both now suffer in western civilization but for similar reasons.

Jobs well done cannot occur without love and vise versa. They are one and the same. Rewards happen after the fact and require the risk of diminishing returns, yet craft cannot be taken away from you. Ask yourself how many putts Tiger Woods missed, or how many free throws missed by LeBraun James. These icons missed many more than they hit.

The message for young people is: Now throw yourself into the Frey and go at it.

The Academy is not to blame directly. Endowments are not to blame. This is basic social value. Work and love. Hold those as your plumb line.

Amos 7:7-8 (New International Version)
This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the LORD asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A plumb line,” I replied.
Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

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