In 1977, two spacecraft were launched by NASA to study the outer reaches of the solar system, gathering data from around Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, they would travel further from earth than anything humans had ever created. These are the Voyager probes. They’re travelling fast – Neptune is 2.7 billion miles from Earth and Voyager […]

President Trump after the recent mass killing: “We have to get much tougher.  We have to get much smarter.  And we have to get much less politically correct.  We’re so politically correct that we’re afraid to do anything… what we have right now is a joke and it’s a laughingstock.  And no wonder so much […]

Real love is deep and broad and wide. Love has layers. Love is a mosaic. Love calls for many kinds of words and deeds. Love is a multiplicity. The love of a parent for a child requires an expansive array of supportive and guiding words and deeds.   Name the top 20 things a child needs […]

  Sports commentator Tom Goldman was talking in a podcast about the controversy of NFL players kneeling during the anthem.   He reflected about the times you TAKE A KNEE during a football game, and mentioned two:   When the quarterback gets the snap, he will take a knee to stop the play. There is a […]

I just got back from a trip to Washington DC, and man, that city is covered in quotes. Every important building, memorial and monument is hallowed by words that designers chose to guard the integrity and guide the morality of America’s people, from generation to generation. Spend a few hours visiting attractions in the capital, […]

A friend of mine studied culinary arts under a master chef, and the chef always insisted that his students eat the food they ruined.  Or even slightly messed up.  You eat your mistakes. Burned.  Dry.  Poorly sifted, proportioned, or kneaded.  Something went wrong with this thing and it comes out just… bad.   The chef says you […]

Alcoholics Anonymous has some real wisdom to offer anyone who is serious about racial justice and reconciliation.   Healing is not just about what needs to stop. It’s also about what needs to start.   You’ve probably known a drunk or two. Maybe you see one in the mirror. There’s always other people around, who […]

Yesterday, my son participated in a Veteran’s Day program and a big choir of kids sang, America the Beautiful. I was brought to the verge of tears several times as I listened to the lyrics – I wish more Americans knew these words well. The most commonly known words in this hymn are the first […]

Of all the stories from recent days commemorating the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the one that affected me most powerfully belongs to Vaughn Alexx.   Vaughn was working at the ticket counter at Dulles airport fifteen years ago, when two men arrived late for their flight. Always attentive and helpful, Vaughn got them […]

When I was a kid I opened a wood-burning furnace and got blasted by a rush of heat unlike anything I’d ever felt. For a second, I was pretty sure I’d burned my face off (I was okay, but my eyebrows took a few weeks to recover).   The lesson in that experience was immediate […]