Another shooting yesterday. Do we even notice anymore? Can evil be called a tragedy? Perhaps, but it’s many other things too. For awhile, I took part in gun safety protests, walking around NRA-supported businesses and politicians offices with my posters. My posters were never particularly eye-catching like so many, but they were useful to put […]
Every religion, Buddhism (a path to Enlightenment), and secular humanism include some variant of “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”. This is the bedrock of our humanity, and it’s quite impossible to posit a moral code without basic respect and care for the other. My goodness though, don’t we try to get around this! Various iterations […]
I’m acquainted with a Golden Retriever named Mozart. People might say he possesses two natures, like the original Mozart, both scatological and divine. But it’s more accurate to say he just does better than most of us in integrating the dualities common to all of us. As a dog, it’s not always easy holding onto […]
When I was a new therapist, I found myself involved in what is sometimes called a NIMBY issue. NIMBY means “not in my back yard”, and refers to opposition to types of development or people living too close to one’s own living space. My situation involved community resistance to state-mandated rental housing for individuals recovering […]
My 95 year-old mother died recently, terribly disappointed that I didn’t die first. As she was pushing 90, she almost ran me over. I’d heard the hiss of brakes as I got out of the car in front of the post office. There she was, behind the wheel of her custom-made Cadillac – so close, […]
I’ll know that things have really changed when I regularly see white women pushing black babies in strollers. I’ll know things have changed when a white person is accused of playing the “race card” when he or she mentions something related to race. I’ll know things have changed when they stop locking up young black […]
If you take a moment to really think about it, the diversity of our world, and its living things, is captivating. On the other hand, there are times when consistency is important. I read about a legislator in West Virginia who is an outspoken critic of civil rights for LGBT people. He is quoted calling […]
Our firstborn spoke early. By eighteen months, she was insinuating herself into conversations with “let’s talk about life” or “how are we all getting along?” One evening she was lying on the rug, uncharacteristically playing with a doll. It was the sort of doll where the eyes shut when you lay it down, but she […]