We can detest someone's actions without detesting the person. We can hate the sin without hating the sinner. When I think of these words, it reminds me of what Arthur Brooks said about loving your enemies in his book and when I heard him speak, which I wrote about here.…
When I was a teen, I did not read a lot of books. I resented the reading requirements in high school and do not recall enjoying more than the handful of novels I read for pleasure. The reading load in college was overwhelming. I didn’t love most of it, but…
I stopped eating red meat about 20 years ago, and I was barely eating it for a number of years before that. My mom’s mom died young from a heart condition, so many years ago when my mom about red meat’s connection to heart disease she shared that knowledge with…
Happy New Year! As I have done for quite a few years, here are some of the many experiences I enjoyed this past year: places I visited, what I listened to, what I read, what I watched, and more. Reading For the last several years I had read fewer and…
At the start of 2018, I decided to give up chicken and turkey. I had given up red meat many years before (maybe 15 or 20 years earlier) and after hearing a wellness talk about the antibiotics in poultry, I decided to become a pescatarian. A friend told me I'm…
Imagine you’re walking to work. You see a child drowning in a pond. You’re about to jump in and save her when you realize you’re wearing your best suit, and the rescue will end up ruining your suit, costing hundreds. Should you still save the child? Of course you should.…
As has happened to me many times before, this year I found myself inspired by a eulogy delivered by a friend upon the passing of one of his parents. Every funeral I attend leaves me a better person because of something I learn about the deceased, and their life well…
This past summer, I began an intentional change in my media consumption. As a result, over the months since, I cut back on, or gave up completely, a bunch of activities. I stopped watching late night talk shows. I had been DVRing them, and then watching the opening monologues the…
When I was a child, my mom made hamburgers for us many nights a week until she learned red meat wasn't good for your health. She cut way back and by the time I went to college, I was rarely eating red meat. Then, 15 or 20 years ago, I…
I first became aware of the climate crisis in 2006 when I saw the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. The movie depressed me. My usual coping mechanisms failed. It took me over a year to overcome those feelings. I read everything I could about technology being developed to deal with the…
At least once a year, an event in the speaker series at 92Y in Manhattan catches my eye. I’ve seen several of my favorite writers, including Malcom Gladwell (three times) and Michael Lewis. This year, I saw Arthur Brooks in conversation with Simon Sinek. I have become a fan of…
Another September 11 is upon us. I publish posts on Wednesdays and with September 11 on a Wednesday this year I looked back to see what I had written in the past on this subject. I started this blog in late 2011 and found two posts: 2012 and 2013. The…