There’s pain, and then there’s intensely deep pain.  We all have pain.  We all have the pain of failed experiences, sordid disappointments, wasted opportunities and wasted investments that we thought were opportunities.  There’s the pain of not being where we imagined being, of being forced to embrace dreams as more fantasy than substance, of … [Read more...]

The definition of manhood has undergone a torturous number of questionable revisions.  Some of those revisions have been reflectively thoughtful.  However, most of them appear to have been largely thoughtless.  It seems that we’ve attempted to realign the definition of manhood in order to better align it with other definitions in our culture that … [Read more...]

“There’s a tool for that.” I can’t tell you how many times I heard my Dad say that. And in the oddity of life, no matter what task we had to do there was a tool for it; not just some tool but a specific tool. Someone, somewhere, at some time had faced whatever challenge we were facing and had designed a tool to get it done with a fair amount of … [Read more...]

Over the years I have written an extensive array of books, articles, blogs and quotes. During special times of the year, I search these writings for quotes to both enrich and enlarge our celebration of that particular season. For Father’s Day, I have selected a handful of quotations that express the power and importance of being a father. In a … [Read more...]

At times, the innumerable dialogues regarding the state of our nation appear to be less dialogues and more something akin to agenda mongering and rights crusading.  It seems that we have hijacked the solemn rights and sacred liberties afforded us and have forced them into servitude around our ego-centric agendas and myopic special interests.  The … [Read more...]

When we get frustrated with people and begin to skirt the periphery of hatred, maybe we should consider a few things.  When we come to despise them and wish to rid ourselves of them, maybe we should ask who they really are and what they’re really experiencing.  When our tolerance level has long been surpassed and rage is all we know, maybe should … [Read more...]

I grew up under the tutelage of a generation who faced the depravity of the Great Depression and then fought through the horrors of World War II.  The deep sense of patriotism and solemn respect for our country ran high among these great people. Therefore, as Memorial Day once again rolls around on the calendar, I find it appropriate to take a … [Read more...]

We’re building memorials every day.  Whether we realize it or not, or whether think about it or not we’re very much involved in the business of building memorials, and we’re doing it every single day.  The memorials that we’re building are the ones that will be about our lives.  Every choice, every decision, every action, every inaction, every … [Read more...]

In large part, Memorial Day has devolved into a weekend that represents the onset of the summer season.  It’s something like the starting gun at the beginning of a race.  It’s the day that officially frees us from the doldrums of winter and gives us some sort of permission to play for the next three months or so until Labor Day reminds us that it’s … [Read more...]

Cleaning; it’s the upkeep side of life.  It’s the irritating drudgery that’s always following us with broom in hand.  Cleaning is the voracious vacuum that’s never satisfied, the frantic feather duster that spews more dust than it captures, and the less than palatable reality that things don’t clean themselves.  The imagery is one of a collection … [Read more...]