As Far Middle episode 197 arrives with Cactus and Grapefruit League play underway, Nick opens with a fitting baseball dedication to legendary Cincinnati Red, Ted Kluszewski, aka “Big Klu.”
Nick highlights Big Klu’s four ingredients for success—ability, confidence, work ethic, and the will to win. Those ingredients transcend baseball and apply to professional success no matter one’s career path.
Nick shifts from the power hitter’s insights of the 1950s to Voltaire’s wisdom from the 1700s. Nick proceeds to explore Voltaire’s Alphabet of Wit, a collection of short essays offering timely commentary on many issues society faces today.
For those unfamiliar with Voltaire, Nick explains he was one of history’s great writers, and a prolific one as well, authoring approximately 20,000 letters and over 2,000 books and pamphlets. And his Alphabet of Wit is a perfect, condensed introduction to Voltaire’s philosophy and genius.
In Alphabet of Wit, Voltaire presents an alphabetical series of short and insightful essays examining words/terms from A to Z, from animals to eloquence, from morality to slavery, and more. Here are just a few of Nick’s observations:
- Books: Voltaire lamented that despite their abundance, few people invest the time to read—a problem amplified today.
- Government: Voltaire mocked humanity’s obsession with governing despite its perpetual incompetence, a critique that resonates with modern bureaucratic inefficiency.
- Happiness: True joy, Voltaire argued, stems from disposition, not circumstance-a reminder for today’s pursuit of contentment.
- Right: Voltaire’s critique of paper currency (“a sham for real wealth”) parallels modern critiques of central banking, while his observations on religious institutions resonate with current debates on institutional power.
Nick also discusses Voltaire’s perspective on self-love, which echoes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, particularly her concept of rational self-interest. In exploring Voltaire’s view on war, Nick notes that Voltaire’s take that leaders should exhaust all alternatives before resorting to conflict resonates strongly today.
In closing, Nick connects Voltaire’s discussion of the alphabet and language to L.L. Zamenhof’s Esperanto, a constructed language developed in the late 1800s intended to promote peace and understanding. Though it failed to achieve widespread adoption, Esperanto serves as a reminder of humanity’s ongoing quest to bridge divides and foster lasting connection.
Episode 197 is another masterful set of connections, spanning Kluszewski’s ingredients for success to Voltaire’s wit, stressing reason and timeless wisdom to navigate modern complexities.