My take on topics, ranging from the way we communicate to politics and our culture.
Early Father Day morning and I’m thinking of my father. He was a complicated man. Not well educated and not especially ambitious, but he was a hard-working guy who willingly embraced his responsibility to take care of his family.
He worked as a pressman in his older brother’s two-man printshop, taking the city subway every morning to…
Read MoreRecently, I read a story about an elderly couple, probably in their mid-eighties. You may have seen it on social media or read the story. It seems that every morning the woman would hand a…
Read More…Thanksgiving is still the holiday when we are most likely to travel to be with friends and family. We brave crowded airports, and we wrestle with traffic, while we pray the weather doesn’t make it worse. This Thanksgiving I chose to go it alone….
Read MoreI have this conversation with men from time to time about hearing loss. It usually goes something like this.
“My wife says I need hearing aids.”
“Is she right about that?”
“Yeah probably.”
“Have you been tested?”
“I probably should get a test, but no…”
Read MoreSome men avoid doctors like the plague. (seeking a better analogy here) They don’t feel well, they complain and still they do nothing, that is, until their wives drag them to see a physician. Why do men do that?…
Read MoreIt seems that my last post, “Our Language is Being Hijacked,” resonated with some readers, who, like me, tend to notice that the way we communicate our thoughts (or fail to) is changing. They offered great examples of their own, which...
Read More“I play doubles tennis. It’s fun playing with a partner. There is a term a few of them use which didn’t originate with the game. When a player hits a bad shot, say into the net, he might say, “my bad.” The term has been around quite a while now. I can’t help…”
Read MoreWho doesn’t want to be interesting? When we tell a story, or write about a topic, we always risk revealing that we don’t know the difference between what’s interesting and what isn’t. While some people always seem to be…
Read More…Regardless of your season in life, you can dramatically improve your communication skills if you’re willing to work at it. Here are a few ideas you may find useful…
Read More“I had breakfast at the Waffle House in Franklin, Tennessee, recently. The restaurant was so busy that I had to sit at the counter. I watched the busy workers while I ate. Some of us have noticed in recent years that service workers often seem less enthusiastic than we remember…”
Read More“One truth about life that is hardly profound, but rarely, if ever, considered, is that we are all fate creating machines. Just the fact that we exist puts us in that role…”
Read MoreWe are living in a time when expertise is often under attack. We doubt it, don’t trust it, and worst of all, often ignore it at our peril. We see this happening in the fields of medicine, government, science, and education…
Read MoreActive adults meet new people all the time. We tend to take them at face value, casually noticing looks, posture, or dress, making a quick assessment based on our experiences. What we don’t get is a sense of where they’ve been or…
Read MoreYou’re in a committee meeting with 6 other people. One of your fellow committee members says, “I think we should start charging for parking.” Another committee member immediately replies, “That’s a great idea!” Ever been in that situation?…
Read More…Is there something to be gleaned from the past that might be useful as I look to the future? I’ve been blessed with some sage words of advice…
Read MoreI read a long time ago that there is a difference between a reaction and an opinion. The difference is that reaction tends to be immediate. Opinions are the result of time, thought and sometimes a bit of research. Neither reaction, nor opinion, should be confused with fact. Sometimes, they are, though. Lately, I’ve been thinking about…
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