Recovery. Sobriety. Living Wise.
I’m delighted to reprise a thought from Joe Nagy, one of my favorite writers. Joe, a former literature and writing professor, contributed this thought on zombies. Like me, I’m sure you’ll find it “strangely” interesting. Enjoy. At the start of this semester, I asked my literature students to attend one academic presentation by mid-term, and write a two-paragraph response, reflecting on what they learned. They … Continue reading Zombies
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” ~ Henry David Thoreau Tough thing. Living in the moment can be, on occasions, a very uncomfortable place. Isn’t it easier to daydream about … Continue reading Don’t Lose It — Live It
“We were that generation called ‘silent,’ but we were silent neither, as some thought, because we shared the period’s official optimism nor, as others thought, because we feared its official repression. We were silent because the exhilaration of social action seemed to many of us just one more way of escaping the personal, of masking for a while that dread of the meaningless which was … Continue reading Homage to the Silent Generation
Forty-five years ago I met Pete, the old gentleman who ran the shoeshine stand in the Eastern Airlines Shuttle Terminal at LaGuardia Airport, a stand he’d manned since the late 1940’s. It’s there I learned the true value of a good shoeshine. Back then, in olden times, people wore shoes that needed shoe polish, so having a good shine was a grooming ritual for many … Continue reading The True Value of a Shoeshine
“Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.” ~ Douglas MacArthur I remember a guys’ retreat awhile back where we took a long hard look at our relationships with our … Continue reading Stand-In Fathers