Posts Tagged ‘Change’
Urgent Optimism
I filled up my car with gas a couple days ago, and the total was over $100. I avoid most news outlets and completely ignore social media, but you cannot escape the stories about tragic shootings happening one after another. We are being told daily that environmental shifts are going to make much of our…
Read MoreFickle Food
As I watched the responses this week to a certain coach leaving a certain football program, I was reminded of this quote: “Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate.” Emily Dickenson It is not unusual for a leader to be a hero one minute and a scourge the next. Did the character of…
Read MoreThe Substance of Life
Most of us are familiar with suffering. If you have been in a relationship, been a parent, been an employee, lost someone or something you love, had dreams or even goals, you have had ample opportunity to suffer. Suffering is the substance of life and the root of personality, for it is only suffering that…
Read MoreDespair-ity
I was in California this weekend to look at cars with my youngest son, his friends, and their dads. Fast cars, historic cars, unique cars, expensive cars. Driving between locations we also saw some spectacular cars on the street. What we also saw on the street were human beings living in tents, broken down vehicles,…
Read MoreEvery Window Is A Mirror
Added to all the other problems brought on by COVID, we found ourselves even more isolated from each other. What busyness, social media, and general divisiveness started, the pandemic accelerated. Joywave lead singer, Daniel Armbruster, sings: “Everything that you thought (confirmed)Every fear you had lost (returns)A film that you just can’t wash (has emerged)But you…
Read MoreGary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana…
I made a significant mistake recently. I went to Gary, Indiana. I know, you’re thinking, “How can Gary, Indiana be a mistake?” Gary, Indiana of “Music Man” fame. Gary, Indiana, birthplace of Michael Jackson. Gary, Indiana, home of Robert Kearns (inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper system.) Turns out things haven’t gone so well for…
Read MoreIn Dreams Begin Responsibilities
Delmore Schwartz wrote “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities” in 1937 when he was only 23. Though he wrote for the rest of his turbulent life, he was plagued by alcoholism and mental illness and unable to match his early success. As a result of alcohol and drug abuse, he died alone and mostly forgotten in 1966.…
Read MoreYou Don’t Get To Pick
I had the amazing opportunity to visit with a class of business students at Oklahoma Baptist University last Friday. I love talking with college students. They are intense, brave, curious, and not easy to impress. They will listen to what you have to say, but they will question you too and make up their own…
Read MoreHeat Wave
“We’re having a heat wave” is a phrase I have heard several times recently as the plummeting temperatures and record snowfall we have experienced this past week begin to fade. One of the latest was a dear friend of mine, in response to reading that the high temp on Friday would be 33°. Something is wrong in…
Read MoreFinal Disposition
I attended the funeral of my friend’s father on Friday. Historically, I have not been a fan of funerals in general, but this one was really nice. My friend’s father had served in the military during the Vietnam war, so there was an honor guard present. One of them played “Taps” before they lifted the…
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