Every argument starts with an assumption. Usually more than one. If I assume the Bible is the literal Word of God and you assume it’s a dangerous collection of fairy tales, we’re going to have a hard time agreeing on anything that touches my religion–which is pretty much everything. If I assume Ted Cruz is […]
If there’s a secret to life, I don’t know it. If there’s a formula for success other than working hard and keeping my word, I’ve never seen it. If there’s a way to guarantee that my country remain a place my kids can be proud of, as I am, as my father is, I’m not […]
In 1998, a political storm engulfed the president of the United States. President Clinton, confirming suspicions many people shared about his character, was caught in an affair with a young White House intern. When he perjured himself about the affair before Congress, his political enemies used his statements to make him the second president ever […]
It’s easy to convince ourselves that people are trying to hurt us. When the waiter brings the wrong meal, or the nurse is slow to come to our room, or the boss criticizes our work; when the auto mechanic fails to fix the problem; when somebody swerves in front of us in traffic, or steps […]
We love to talk about seeking understanding. But most of us choose ignorance instead. Small wonder. Understanding is hard. It’s much easier to judge poor single mothers, to talk about how their bad choices landed them where they are, than to speak to one, to try to understand why those choices may have seemed right […]
The title of this post is objectively not true. No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve been through, you can point to something that happened to someone else at some other time and tell yourself that was worse. But don’t tell your heart that. It won’t listen. I know a young man who’s […]
Every time ISIS commits a new atrocity, the Internet flares up with racist generalizations that all Muslims are terrorists. This story is about two Muslim boys who came from the overwhelmingly non-terrorist majority of Islam. Goals Status: Marathon: On Track. I’ll be running my first race of the year, the Get Your Rear In Gear […]
I no longer consider myself exclusively Christian. But I love Christmas. I didn’t always. For a big chunk of my life, it was always somebody else’s holiday: before I embraced Christianity, it was too much about Jesus, and after, it was too much about buying and consuming. There was always something to be mad about […]
A couple of days ago, a woman approached me in the parking lot of a store where I had just bought groceries. Her face was a mask of despair; tears streamed down her face as she told me about her two-year-old and disabled brother waiting in the car, about how she and her husband were […]
Uganda’s New Anti-Gay Law: Part of a Broader Trend in Africa. We are so afraid of those who are different from ourselves that we feel the need to outlaw their behavior. A useful stance if we’re protecting children from molestation, or keeping intoxicants out of the hands of people who might hurt others under their […]