Are we stuck? We struggle with traffic snarls. Where man once ventured to the moon within a decade, we quarrel and sit on our hands. Few write. Speeches reach a new level of nonsense with every wasted word. The world lurches into an uncertain future. We have evolved into hamsters making a wheel going nowhere. David McCullough latest book chronicles an American [...]
You are not rich enough to buy cheap shoes. In a recent renovation, we bought a rug from a man who taught a lesson in value. It was not just about rugs. He described growing up in Iran as an apprentice farmer. It was not long before he knew he needed some work boots. The problem is he had little money. His [...]
The sun sets. Lights go out. The day is over. What do you ask yourself at the end of the day? Whether spoken aloud, jotted in a journal, or a vapor passing through the mind, every person sorts their day. When we ask it, we experience something. Do you feel tired at the end of the day? Or are you torn by [...]
The year 1918 was brutal. It wasn’t due to World War I. It was the flu. Without few treatment options, the flu killed 50 million people worldwide. It was passed from person to person in a “contagion.” Every parent of a sick child asks the question, “Is he (or she) contagious?” Something is contagious if it spreads from one person to another. [...]
Fanny Crosby wrote church hymns…over 8000 of them. Titles trickle through memories with ease. They include Pass Me Not and Blessed Assurance. With such a gift and exuberance for words of hope, you would assume, Crosby lived a charmed life. And you would be wrong. She lived most of her life in darkness. When she was 6 weeks old, she caught [...]
Marie Kondo is a rock star. The diminutive, soft-spoken Japanese invaded America in a way Hirohito could only dream of. Do we need to “Kondomari” our lives as well as our homes? Kondo wrote the book The Magic of Tidying Up. The marketing manipulators at Netflix launched her into fame with by paring her with new year resolutions. Her program Tidying Up [...]
During the week of Christmas, my wife and I went to see Mary Poppins Returns. I was skeptical. As a baby boomer who watched the 1964 original in a drive-in theater, Mary Poppins is Julie Andrews. I listened to records of the music as a kid and loved the movie. Now, as a man in his 7th decade, I did not want [...]
For at least 13 years (and more, if you are fortunate), you attend school. The curriculum is specific loaded with canned lessons Then, you get into another school called “life experience.” While the curriculum is not structured, the lessons continue to come. The problem is we don’t think about what we learn so we miss most of the value of the learning. [...]
December’s cold winds signal changes. For animals, they head to caves to hibernate. Humans light fireplaces and eat comfort foods. December for me is also a time to review the past year and prepare for the next one. I am a believer in reviews and accountability. Why Review The Year? So why, in the hustle and bustle of a rushed December, take [...]
Western society worships at the altar of position. Whether it be business, religion, government, or academia, the guy at the top gets the spotlight. That leaves someone else, someone more important, in the dark. Once I had a half-day layover in London. I caught a train, went downtown to wander around. I did not know where I was going but stumbled onto [...]
