We were young once…and soldiers (reminders of who we are)
Mostly, we live day to day, the weeks fade into years. All too often, we fail to stop and reflect on our lives. Yet from time to time, we experience something that causes us… Read More
Life & Politics Blog
Happy 4th of July!
The 4th of July weekend brought much of my family together. It reminded me of the comment on a playbill for a show at the Barter Theater I had seen a while back. “Sometimes… Read More
Friendship, what does it mean?
I’m admittedly on the downward slope of my life and I find that one grows more sentimental with time. I have met a lot of people along the way and friendships become more salient… Read More
What do you see when you look in the mirror?
A morning ritual of brushing my teeth takes a philosophical turn as I look into the mirror. I know what I want to see…mostly that guy I knew in the past: a college athlete;… Read More
What size should I wear?
Recently, I received an order by FedEx. It was a ‘cashmere’ sweater. Only, it wasn’t cashmere. It wasn’t the right color and it sure wasn’t the right size. I had fallen prey to the… Read More
Where do our dreams go?
I recently had a revelatory experience. We have long desired a place at the beach. But not just any place: Old Florida feel; close to the water; easy access. A pipe dream. We were… Read More
Home is where your heart is
I have been a traveler. Although I have lived in East Tennessee for over thirty years, I am not “from here.” In some respects, I will always be from somewhere else. But where? When… Read More
Why is balance so hard to achieve?
We seek it, yet it often seems elusive: “balance.” A state of equilibrium. Like a law of thermodynamics, it is cancellation of one set of influences by equal opposing forces. Sorry, but life just… Read More
What does it mean to be a “citizen?”
As we enter the Presidential election cycle, the issue of voting and citizenship rears its head once again. Section 1 of the 14th Amendment states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United… Read More
Who will watch the watchers?
The debate about Artificial Intelligence (AI)and how it should be used and allowed to develop came to a head recently when OpenAI (the parent of ChatGPT) cofounder Sam Bankman was fired by the company’s… Read More
Regret and Gratitude-two sides of the same coin
There are many powerful forces at work in the world. Natural drives like gravity and magnetism impact our physical being. Other influences are more subtle. Economic forces (e.g., inflation) drive human conduct. Social imperatives,… Read More
