Author: Pat Moriarty

The Greatest Virtue – You Keep What You Give Away

“The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.” ~ Aristotle Perhaps the finest mind found the simplest way to explain the greatest virtue known to humanity. ~ You keep what you give away ~  It was Aristotle’s contention that moral excellence is found in those acts which impart the greatest good on the greatest number of people. Whoever you are ~ Wherever … Continue reading The Greatest Virtue – You Keep What You Give Away »

Why Worry?

My friend John was a quadriplegic and permanent resident at King County Hospital. I met John in 1962 when I had a Seattle Times paper route in the hospital. He would buy both the morning and evening papers from me each day. I was 14 years old and brimming with adolescent angst. When John was 14 he often could be found on the Columbia River … Continue reading Why Worry? »

Zombies

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 »

Homage to the Silent Generation

“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 »