Recovery. Sobriety. Living Wise.
In his essay on old age, Cicero has Cato the Elder lecture on the advantages of growing old. Reading it, you would think that the best is yet to come. Not so, however, for Cicero. His involvement in Roman politics resulted in him fleeing for his life from Mark Antony’s henchmen. When they caught up with him, they severed his hands and head, and Antony … Continue reading Old Age (by Joe Nagy)
In 1864, during the height of the Civil War, a Union soldier named William McCarter found himself dying of dysentery in a crowded military hospital. The man who nursed him back to health—who fed him, cleaned him, and sat with him through the worst nights, was a Confederate prisoner of war. Mercy knows no enemy. Two men who, by every measure of their time, were … Continue reading Who Would Ever Have Thought?
“Nothing can consume a man more than the passion of resentment.” — Friedrich Nietzsche Have you ever wondered: Why did the Creator give us the capacity for deep resentment? What do we become when resentment slowly eats away at us? What is it about human nature that makes us vulnerable to resentment? How do our insecurities so easily trigger resentment within us? What happens when … Continue reading Antidote to Resentment
For the past 17 years Marsha and I have spent a fair bit of time each week composing and editing our posts. So when Saturday comes and we finally publish the post we invariably look over at each other and smile. It’s always a feeling of satisfaction. But now, in the age of artificial intelligence, when I get a message which purports to be an … Continue reading The Illusion of Understanding
My old friend Brendan Boyle recently shared this story with me. With his permission I now share it with you. 💠Pat, Sheila and I stopped at the grocery store in the U District last night to buy flowers for Miguel’s grave. On my way out, this clean, tidy looking Indian or Pakistani woman with a small girl came toward me and quietly asked if … Continue reading Who Whispers In Your Ear?