A friend of mine, who taught rhetoric (speaking and writing) to college freshmen, assigned her classes to write essays on the two or three people, or incidents they thought had the most effect on their development as a person. The occurrences or behaviors they were to report on could include either positive or negative experiences.…
The book of Ecclesiastes is often cited as a source of wisdom in terms of finding meaning in life. Some Bible scholars however, find the book contradictory and in sharp contrast to the teachings in Proverbs and say that the author of Ecclesiastes was simply responding to some of the beliefs of his time and…
In his book Maybe, Maybe Not, on p.117-121, Robert Fulghum wrote about a time when he was teaching philosophy to high-school seniors. He started the class by having them play musical chairs, which most of them had probably not played since they were in second grade. However, unlike second graders, the game became very rough…
I read an article by Parker Bouer, in the spring 2018 issue of American Scholar magazine (p. 64), about the extinction of the Dusky Sea Sparrow. It was caused primarily because of the incursion of the Kennedy Space Center on the bird’s habitat. There was a refuge set aside to protect the birds, but because…
One of my pet peeves is that manufactures deliberately make things so that they will wear out sooner than they need to. The idea is that they can use cheaper materials to make the item, and they can then sell another iteration of the same item again, just a few years down the road. Whereas…
I once taught a series of classes for my church called “Living Fully/Dying Well” based on a book by Ruben Job. The main goal of the course was to help people prepare for end-of-life issues. It urges us to ask the question, “Do I have my physical, financial and spiritual affairs in order?” Some of…
In the early 1970s I belonged to a discussion group on the campus of the University of Northern IA. One of the topics we discussed was a popular book at the time, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach. It is the story of a sea gull that was rejected by his flock, but he soared…
The National Safety Council recently announced that for the first time in history the odds of an American dying from an accidental opioid overdose are higher than dying from a motor vehicle crash––1 in 96 vs. 1 in 103. USA Today, 1/15/19, p.1A This does not even account for all of the people who are…
Jemima Packington claims she can predict the future with asparagus. As the only known “asparamancer,” this 63-year-old British woman says she sees the future by observing how the spears fall after she throws them into the air. Packington claims she is 75-90% accurate noting her predictions about Brexit and President Trump’s summit with North Korea’s…
Our feelings range on a continuum from depressed to exuberant. On any given day, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, we can be anywhere from extremely sad to exceedingly joyful, agitated to peaceful. Most of the time, we tend to be in control of our emotions and can respond appropriately to whatever comes our way.…