A few years ago I witnessed a parable in a parade as two floats rolled by me in the midst of the local Fourth of July parade. “Lady Luck,” shapely and seductive, painted on the side of a huge Bud Lite truck slowly rolled past. The truck pulled a trailer promoting a local radio station. […]
George Washington was a traitor
“George Washington was a traitor.” The whole class was stunned. How could a teacher of American history say such a thing? After a long pause, he followed with, “He was considered a traitor by the British.” That moment did not occur during an era of political correctness, nor did it happen in some liberal northern […]
Balancing freedom and responsibility
Big sodas live on in New York City. Mayor Blumberg’s attempt to ban large sugary drinks in the city was overturned by a state court. For now. The Mayor promises to appeal. The interesting thing about all this has been the range of reactions. Some shrug and say, “Makes sense.” Others are infuriated. Big sugary […]
Ode to my truck
A basic tenet of Buddhism is nonattachment. In fact, if you cut through lots of the church doctrine that’s been added over the centuries to Christianity, if you get back to the basic teachings of Jesus, he too taught nonattachment. Jesus and Buddha knew that life’s meaning and true joy were not to be found […]
What the road passes by
I received word yesterday that my friend, Carolyn, died. Her life partner, Monty, sent a message to all those on her email list. She died peacefully at home after a battle with an aggressive cancer. I didn’t know she was sick. I hadn’t had much contact with her over the past several years, though I […]
Stan the Man
The world lost a legend this week. And I lost a personal hero. Stan Musial, baseball Hall of Famer and unquestionably one of the greatest players of all time died quietly at the age of 92. He was also unquestionably one of the best people who ever played the game. He was a pillar of […]
A loss like no other
As I sat in the memorial service for my friend, Hal, my attention kept drifting to Hal’s only brother, Dale. Dale was sitting a few rows in front of me and to my left, on the aisle of the second row of the section reserved for the family. Thinning hair, in his late seventies, and […]
My laptop was stolen!
My laptop was stolen while I was on the train from visiting my kids in Illinois. I was devastated when I first discovered it missing from my book bag at 6:00 a.m. Then it got worse. As I considered the implications, well, I have not slept well and have not been able to concentrate on […]
And which God are we talking about?
God got a lot of free press during the recent political conventions. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but it certainly reveals something interesting about our individual and collective notions of God. The Republican platform, adopted at the RNC, contained 16 references to the deity. The DNC left the name of God out of […]
We didn’t see this coming!?
Last week a U.S. Navy ship collided with a Japanese oil tanker in the Persian Gulf. This could have been a tragedy or become an international incident. It did not. My first reaction was a concerned “Oh, wow,” but within seconds, I was chuckling, “How does the person in charge explain that?” Granted, it happened […]