My Ten Personal Commandments The other day I was browsing on the internet, and I discovered a writing prompt about creating a list of ten personal commandments. The idea was not to replace the original commandments in the Bible, but rather to examine my own conscience and write down my own ideas. With this in mind I thought about my own ten commandments in no specific order of importance: 1. Never stop learning. 2. Accept responsibility for my own mistakes and forgive others for their...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Pride and Anger Challenges Perhaps everyone has aspects of their character that are particularly challenging and need improvement. In the Christian tradition there are seven deadly sins that don’t appear in the Bible together but are discussed in various books. These seven deadly sins are the following: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath (anger), and sloth. Although over the years, I’ve had to overcome all of these sins at one time or another, the sins of pride and anger are the ones I...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Remembering the “Moby Jack” I thought it might be fun to describe a job experience I had as a fast food restaurant manager in Chicago, where I worked many years ago. The following is a humorous true story from my book The Comedy of Everyday Life. The “Moby Jack” is a fish sandwich on the menu: One of my first truly responsible jobs was as a manager at a Jack in the Box restaurant in Chicago. The restaurant stayed open twenty four hours a day, and it provided me with a number of opportunities...
2 months ago • 3 min read
“All You Need is Love” It is probably foolish to attempt to write about love since it means different things to different people. In its own way, it can also be controversial because of different belief systems. Nevertheless, I’ve been thinking about the idea of love for a long time, so I thought I’d share some thoughts about it. Perhaps a good way to get started is to define love as a form of desire. This desire takes many forms, but it is often associated with sex, and it can be very...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Angels When I decided to write about angels, I naively believed that I would have an organized and concise topic to study. It wasn’t long before I realized that the whole concept of angels is impossibly complex, and so I nearly gave up in desperation. In the end, I decided to mention some ideas I have learned about angels without even pretending to be knowledgeable about them. One book that was quite helpful is called Everything Book of Angels, by M. J. Abadie, which helped me to come up with...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Secrets In the course of our lives, we often share secrets with others. Part of this depends on discretion and integrity. Two obvious examples of secrecy are doctor-patient privilege and lawyer-client privilege. The secrets have the force of law behind them. However, there are other kinds of secrets that individuals get involved with that could be considered gossip. Some seek recognition, attention and approval for letting others know some secret that has been entrusted to them. Gossiping can...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Music in the Air When I retired, I thought I’d be playing golf, going to parties, and taking cruises. Instead I’ve been going to appointments, listening to doctors and taking medication! I’ve also needed to cut back on hiking and gardening which has left me with a lot of time on my hands. I still can write productively, do chores and go on short hikes; however, I have really needed a meaningful hobby to help pass the time. Fortunately, my wife, Donna reminded me about the songs we had written...
3 months ago • 3 min read
My Teachers Over the years, I’ve had many teachers - some really good and some not so good. For example, my third grade teacher was so angry about my penmanship and lack of neatness that she turned my desk upside down in front of the class. However, in college a professor once gave me the desk on which he wrote about romantic poetry. The finest teacher I’ve ever known; however, has been Satya Sai Baba, a saint from Southern India. Since I was introduced to him through a book over forty years...
3 months ago • 2 min read
How Algebra Saved My Career I was never good at math. I could stare at a math problem and not have a clue how to solve it. I not only lacked the ability; I also had no self-confidence. In high school, I was failing algebra until my friend, David, stepped to help me because he was very good at math. David spent countless hours with me, problem by problem, until I began to excel at algebra. I eventually earned A’s for both semesters. In addition, I scored 94% on the state regent exam, and...
3 months ago • 3 min read