One of my favorite authors speaks of the purpose of education as preparation for service in this world and for wider service in the world to come. Long have I considered the concept of service in the world to come. To me an act of...
Communication is without a doubt one of the most challenging tasks of humanity. Wars are started because of miscommunication. Marriages are shattered because of miscommunication. Parents and children stop talking because of miscommunication. Today in the twenty-first century we have so many tools for communicating. ...
I was observing one of our student teachers practice teaching in a local 3rd grade. I was sitting in the back of the room and noticed one little guy giving me the eye. Finally he got up from his desk, came back and asked, "Who are...
Ecclesiastes 1:18 says, "In much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." This is part of Solomon's dissertation on the futility of life. The more we know about the world the more we learn of man's inhumanity to man. The more...
The Chilean earthquake, the seventh largest on record at 8.8, has shifted the axis of the earth. It is estimated by geologists that our days may now be 1.26 microseconds shorter. This is much like a figure skater tightly hugging herself and thus spinning faster,...
While literally sandbagging the basement door of my home last week to stop a minor flood I got to wondering about the meaning of the expression "to sandbag someone." I discovered the following, "To downplay or misrepresent one's ability in order to deceive someone." I...
Situations are created by a multitude of little things. Often it is difficult to explain why something happened without a long dissertation of things that are almost inconsequential but are indeed not inconsequential. It snowed. Okay. No big deal. It snows in New England. We expect...
In 1945 the Japanese had been fighting American soldiers for over three years. They were convinced that they could not lose the war because their gods had made them superior. They were a chosen people. Americans were a mongrel people who were not racially pure. ...
It’s amazing what a dog will do for a treat. When I ask our lab to shake, as she picks up her paw she cocks her head and gives me a crazy look as if to say, “Look, this is really stupid. It serves no...
Frogs are fascinating creatures. They come equipped with an amazingly accurate tongue that can snag all manner of flying food. However, there is a problem. If there is no flying food they will starve to death. We can put all kinds of nutritious morsels in...