Exploring ideas

Someone asked me to “pick that one moment in your life you’d like to live over and over again.” Either that was a really dumb challenge, or maybe I’ve just moved so far beyond that mindset that I can’t seriously consider it. It would make more sense to ask if I remembered where I was…

I’m just asking a basic question or two, here, not judging. I thought of this after watching a reel online representing an unseen woman, possibly calling on the phone, seeking information about terminating her pregnancy at 34 weeks. She was asking about the procedure and looking for confirmation that she was not crazy or out…

Trying to be Christian is hard. I understand why so many people abandon the effort every day. Professing such a belief is not for wimps, and more and more it seems it is just about impossible to meet the criteria. The social pressure against it is palpable to all five senses. Who knew? Sadly, what…

I thought of titling this “The Jewish Problem,” but then I thought better. There is no “Jewish Problem,” but there is a broadening chasm of a “Humanity Problem.” Evil always seeks out a scapegoat, a focus against which to draw together those who are confused, in want, and who lack a star to guide them…

Paul McCartney famously asked what’s wrong with silly love songs. The question is the answer. Love is the deepest form of necessary silliness in the human soul. Some of us have spent decades wool-gathering, trying to define it and its importance. I wish I could impart to my children the absolute volcano of emotion a…

My children were flabbergasted when they found their mother was on Facebook. I don’t remember when I first logged on, but I’ve been on it for quite a number of years. You see, before FB there was something called “myspace.com” which began in 2003. Teenagers and college kids were jumping on that and posting absolutely…

He didn’t originate it, but Cloyde (my late husband) used to say, “Life without bacon… why bother?” This was always in response to whatever my latest healthy eating plan was, all of which declared bacon to be a “no-no.” In a world full of health gurus telling us everything we cannot or should not eat,…

It’s not real. It’s not an actual piece of history. Don Quixote de la Mancha did not actually exist. Or did he? There are some stories that always make my face leak; Ole Yeller and Man of LaMancha are the top two, both of them fiction, but each is written about real human responses to…

Humans are hardwired to be passionate. We are also culturally encouraged to demonstrate our passions, mocking people who show none as being mechanical or having no soul. Another word often paired with “passion” is “love.” We swoon over “passionate love affairs.” In fact, a partner who fails to act passionately is often accused of being…

People often manage to control other people with words. There are even people who describe themselves as “Social Influencers.” What a LAUGHABLE title! And yet… it happens, more so to the young than to those of us who grew up reciting “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” That…