“What do I plan to do once authorities lift the shelter-in-place order?” That’s what I ponder now. I find my flights of fancy ever-changing. I start with what I used to do. I would like to leisurely go to a grocery store again and find what I need. I want to sit down at a restaurant of my choice to eat [...]
In this COVID-19 situation, people ask the same question? When. When will the virus be gone? When will our lives return to normal? Will I still have a job? Are restaurants and small businesses going to survive? All are questions longing for certainty. People like certainty. We want to know food is available. They turn to the weatherman on the TV, [...]
Reputations grow around accomplishments. For one man, his reputation is for a single line, which he never spoke. “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” Henry Morton Stanley led an expedition up the Congo River in 1887. It was his third expedition. It became a disaster. Left alone, his men brutalized the Africans. Those they used for labor they let die from poison food and [...]
When COVID-19 (or as it was called then coronavirus) started rippling the news, I did not sound serious. After all, all media makes money by scaring people to death. I soon grew weary of breathless news anchors prophesying Armageddon. (I always thought that was the realm of end-times evangelicals.) But then, it did start getting serious. Doctors I knew and trusted seemed [...]
Washington Irving told the fictional tale of a man who goes to sleep and wakes up in a whole new world. We have much in common with Rip Van Winkle. When you woke up, the world had changed. It wasn't because of some novel technological discovery. Instead, it is something fundamental to human existence: an ugly virus called COVID-19. No one could [...]
They are everywhere. The multi-room units pop up squeezed between properties and on vacant lots. They are not apartments, but storage facilities. In America, there are more than 48,000 storage facilities. Their popularity comes from a thirst for more. Two out of three American households with garages also have a storage unit. It has become a particular problem for Baby-Boomers, those people [...]
The movie 1917 portrays a war fought far before the births of all but centenarians. While some critics (who gain their title honestly) panned the movie, I found it a compelling story about courage, loyalty, and duty, three dying virtues in 21st century America. But what captured my attention came at the end when the action finished. As the credits rolled, a [...]
Listen to the words: Silent night! holy night! all is calm, all is bright round yon virgin mother and Child, holy Infant, so tender and mild—sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night holy night! shepherds quake at the sight; glories stream from heaven afar; heav’nly hosts sing alleluia—Christ the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is born! Silent night! [...]
Every person hears a question knock on life’s door. Frustration gives it birth and mortality provides its cry. “Did I make any difference?” In the infancy of television, Rod Serling, a gravel-throated man with a dagger-like stare, produced a series called The Twilight Zone. Most of the episodes had a twinge of science fiction. It introduced young William Shatner and [...]
This is the Thanksgiving season. Usually, that means wedging a quick "what I am thankful for" between bites of turkey and dressing and kickoff. We know better. No one I know wants to be thought of as an "ingrate," that horrible creature who does not recognize the good things in our lives. Yet, we put together a day to "count our blessings" [...]
