This could be titled Phlegm 3, but I got tired of the nasty connotations of that word. As I have sat at home today, thinking, praying, pondering, and being generally disgusted at how little I can do, I had these thoughts, mostly as a result of my time in the hospital. If I am physically unable to carry on a conversation or my hand is shaking when I try to hold the phone to answer a call, it is ok not to take said call. Its probably not that important anyway. I MUST start my d

In my last entry, I referred to my present health and career crisis as a storm. I considered and then wrote about how it built up and finally blew up. In explaining this to my present clients, I even drew a picture of a mushroom cloud as an illustration of my job situation. 44 The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. 5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god . . . Since then, I

I don’t always learn by teaching. Sometimes, I learn by conjuring up some humility, reminding myself that I’m not an expert in – well – anything, and finding someone who IS, and then submitting to their instruction. On this point, for the past several years I have been studying mediation and more specifically, conciliation, methods. This is done in a quest to be able to help people who are tangled up in the chains of conflict to escape with their valued relationships in tact.

Upon attending the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Schuman’s Symphony No. 9 (Le fosse Ardeatine) in February, I learned something very interesting, at least to me. That thing, the concept that I learned, took me by surprise as I listened to the explanation of the eerie, minor-keyed symphony. It involves the etymology of the word “partisan.” I tend to think of Partisan as simply “having to do with a certain political party.” As I have aged and worked in government

I do not subscribe to the platitude that “everyone wants to get along with others.” I heard someone say this recently, but I don’t think so. At least not by my definition of “getting along.” Some want to get along as long as they have control. Some want to get along as long as they aren’t carrying the weight. Some are in favor of peace so long as they don’t have to compromise. From my experience, peace for those in control does not assure peace for those forced to submit. Pea

I asked the question recently on a popular social media platform: What is Dignity, and is it endangered? Oddly enough, I think it is rare, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Maybe that is why I call it rare. You would think that I would have to recognize what something is in order to label it as rare, but this is part of the mystery. I received several responses to my query, and most were thoughtful and even wise. Here is a sampling: “being noble and worthy of res

Imagine a happy, classic American family: two parents, Reagan and Roosevelt(Rosy for short) Washington, two kids, Liberty and Unity, and a dog and maybe a cat. Let’s go ahead and put a goldfish and a guppy in a tank on the bar between the kitchen and dining room. One kid is in dance and the other in softball and the parents have a good marriage: not blissful everyday but not looking to make any trades either. Everybody is ok, content, and living their “best life now.” They kn

Christmas Eve arrived as suddenly as did the Christmas season. The Washingtons had spent substantial amounts of money in an effort to buy good cheer for themselves and for Liberty, and the Harhashes, though they spent very little on decorations or gifts, were feeling the cheer of their fellowship with God and Douglass’ family and Unity. The group had found a small cave just outside of town, borrowed a few sheep, and after doing some research regarding the Church of the Nativi

After a long therapeutic ride, Reagan returned home to find that everyone had gone to bed. The kids were asleep and Rosy may as well have been. He climbed into his side of the bed and drifted off into a fitful, restless sleep. The next afternoon Rosy texted him and invited him to dinner. She said the kids were taken care of and she had a coupon for Cheesecake Factory, so he agreed. They met at the hostess station after work: “Strange how we convince ourselves we have control,

A home is a wonderful thing. A family is even better. Armistice, when needed, is from God Himself. Put the three  together and you have a miracle that many people never experience and that many who experience it take for granted. The Washingtons had hit a sweet spot in life.  Reagan was rising early each morning with a spring in his step, Rosy was feeling empowered and enthusiastic about both work and family, Liberty was energized by her parents’ positivity and Unity was in a

One of the, if not the, greatest days of any of the Washingtons’ lives was the day the adoption was finalized. It was two days after Easter. The air was still cool in the The sights, smells and sounds of the courthouse were things both parents would have preferred to shield their children from, regardless of their ideological differences. As Rosy grabbed the hand of little Unity to keep her from running off into the crowded lobby, she whispered, “It’s much easier to love peop

Adopted. Some people ignorantly attach a stigma to that word. Unity doesn’t though. She was born at an early age to her natural mom and mom’s boyfriend at the time. One That was the beginning of a pattern for her. The local Child Protective Service picked her up and placed her in foster care, but in foster care she was moved often, every time other children needed to stay together in a home, and a couple of times when her foster parents had personal or marital problems. Up un

I’m ok with who I am. It has taken quite some time to get here, but I’m good with me. And as for the people who aren’t, well, I don’t really care. On the other hand, may they have ethics complaints filed against them. But not by me, because it’s not worth my time. I’ve learned a lot about myself in the past few years. I’ve learned that I like macchiato. It took a trip to Ethiopia to figure that out. It may not be the most masculine coffee around but I don’t care, because I li

I had eggs scrambled with jalapenos and tomatoes, with an orange drink, before I was picked up in a blue bajaj to roll through the bumpy streets to attend a house church. I confess that the amalgam of nationalities and languages in this small gathering made me aware of the presence of God more than I usually am in a more homogeneous environment. This must have been a small taste of the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts, as people worshiped in Amharic, Oromo, Somali, Arabic, E

So much. Misconduct. Bad behavior. Accusations. Ruined lives. Ruined careers. Battered victims. Lying “victims.” Lying perpetrators. Battered “perpetrators.” Dr. Ford says that Judge Kavanaugh – long before she was a PhD or he was a JD – got on top of her on a bed at a party in high school, put his hand over her mouth to stifle the screaming, and further assaulted her somehow. They were two wealthy, privileged, drunk spring breaker kids in an un-chaperoned party, and now thir

This is the root of politicians and pundits feeding the public “alternative facts,” “fake news,” and “revisionist history.” When people choose not to see, they have little choice but not to show, not to explain, not to admit, etc., lest they see and are therefore seen. Selective invisibility is one of the most effective tools of less than forthright clergy, politicos, and, by the way, terrorists. Who’s to say what’s real and what’s fabricated among these invisible things we t

So is it a good thing or a bad thing? I think it’s healthy but no more fun than a shot in the buttocks for a ten year old. Children seem to enjoy their illusions: Santa brings them presents at Christmas, a Bunny brings candy at Easter, a Fairy exchanges money for baby teeth (a little creepy when said that way), a huge ape with big feet lives in the woods, et cetera. Part of maturing is releasing these fanciful myths in favor of reality, but it seems to me that after releasing

(This is #11 and the final installment in a series. Find 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 by clicking on the numbers. It’s ok – they’re mostly short.) By the way, to be fair, it’s not just Christians who do it. I’m just more willing to point the proverbial finger at my own kind than others, for the sake of avoiding hypocrisy. But everyone from the LGBTQ community to the Islam community seems to do it. We all want respect and we all want others to see the truth of our ways. But

(This is #10 in a series. Find 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 by clicking on the numbers. It’s ok – they’re short.) Last night I laid out my view that Christ never encouraged public prayer among nonbelievers. I have also explained that U.S. Christians have been doing so ever since the Puritans anchored here. In a previous post I explained that there are usually consequences for “forcing it.” The Union Free School District No. 9 of New Hyde Park, New York was and is a public schoo

(This is #7 in a series. Find 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 by clicking on the numbers.) After the Declaration came the Constitution, and again, all they wrote in to it was “freedom of religion.” No specific religion, faith, creed, or doctrine. As a matter of fact, they went back and forth on how to word the idea that became “freedom of religion.” Look closely. At one point it was “Congress shall make no law establishing a religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor shall the