Lessons I'm learning now, that I should have learned long ago. These are the messages for my son, Alec.
You work hard during the day, and what do you want to do when you get home? You work hard during the week, and what is it that you want to do on the weekend? The most common answer would be to relax. It would be to take it easy, maybe watch some television. Sometimes, […]
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Who are you when you are by yourself? When nobody’s looking, are you the same person? In times past, only villains wore masks. Today, almost everybody has one on. The masks hide our identities. But in truth, they really show us who we are. Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. […]
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Imagine 1760. Books are expensive and hard to come by. And if you don’t know how to read, they will do you no good. Heroes are legendary, because their deeds are passed down by word of mouth. If you want to learn a trade, you find someone who will take you on as an apprentice. […]
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I went down another rabbit hole of reading Seneca’s Letters when I got to the seventh, On Crowds. It is a good one that speaks much of what is going on in the U.S. today. For example, this gem: To consort with the crowd is harmful; there is no person who does not make some […]
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I can’t. It is one of the more frustrating phrases I hear from my son. It is especially frustrating when it is said before he even tries. To say the words “I can’t” puts a period on the limits of possibility. Your potential is stopped short never crossing the oceans of faith and hope to […]
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Yes indeed, I am going to Bob Dylan for a little insight into justice. Making snap judgments is almost natural. From an intuition standpoint, it may even be evolutionary. But is it always right? A predisposition based on upbringing, cultural norms, and the popular opinion of others is probably even less correct. The easy way […]
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The wildebeest in the middle of the pack has no ability to affect the herd. It is safe as long as it keeps running. Well, as long as it is not one of the thousands that get trampled along the way. When you run with the mob, you run a risk. Your intentions might be […]
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Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important… Maybe it is a part of our nature. It could be innate or just developed over the course of our early years. Heck, it might have even been a consequence of our ancestors eating the fruit from the tree of good and evil. We […]
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We see the prize, the end goal. It is there before us in our mind’s eye, but it is not yet a reality. How do we get there? We keep going. We keep taking the steps along the thousand mile road.1 It will not be easy. No great journey ever is. Does it matter […]
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One of the acronyms I will never forget from the Army is SPORTS. Slap Pull Observe Release Tap Squeeze When your weapon jams up, you apply SPORTS to clear the malfunction. Practice SPORTS enough times, and it becomes second nature. You won’t even forget it twenty years later. Why do soldiers practice it so much? […]
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