Commentaries
Facing up to the ‘epidemic’ of military suicides
No one can appreciate the unimaginable pain that is the ultimate explanation for such a tragic action. No one, therefore, can sit in judgment on a person whose choice cannot be fathomed and whose life can only be remembered but not restored, and whose pain we simply cannot understand.
His wife is gone, but she is still with us
Monica is praying for you. You can be sure of that. And she's praying for me. I thank God for that. As you may have heard or read, my wife Monica, who contributed to this column, passed away on the evening of Jan. 6. She died at home, in our bedroom, of uterine cancer.
Knowing the horrors of war may be the experience we need
The nation will benefit from having a Secretary of Defense who, for the first time, is an infantry combat veteran and one who advocates a sharp reduction in the number of U.S. nuclear weapons. Each is a perspective that has been sorely lacking for years among those responsible for committing America's soldiers to combat.
For your own good, be honest about your weight
Do you know your true weight? Or are you like many others who fudge (pardon the food reference) their numbers or otherwise try to avoid the topic altogether? Honesty really is the best policy. We do ourselves no favors if we try to ignore the proverbial elephant in the room.
Figure it out: Be receptive to God’s will
In a faraway city, I have a daughter who is trying to figure out the rest of her life. To be fair, I suppose there are moments in each week when you and I are trying to figure out the rest of our lives, too. But my daughter is at that moment of impending college graduation when the "real" world beyond the classroom is lurking like some ogre -- or perhaps an angel -- outside the door.
Hypertension: A hidden danger
I've heard this comment made more than once: "I had no idea my blood pressure was too high. I didn't feel a thing." Perhaps you have said the same, until you had your blood pressure checked. You had no idea it was dangerously high and put you at risk for heart attack, stroke or other problem.
Wanted: Uniting communication in digital gathering spaces
I love the digital world, the Internet, by whatever name. This morning, I paid bills, made an airline reservation, refilled a prescription, communicated with my physician and planned for a visit from longtime friends coming to town. That was before draining the second cup of coffee.
When invisibility is a curse, not a blessing
Back when I was a kid, I used to think it would be really cool to be invisible. Like any kid, my thoughts back then were usually all about how invisibility could benefit me. Invisibility meant that I would be able to goof off as much as I wanted. It meant that I would hear what the other kids were saying about me when they thought I wasn't listening.
Helping others carry their cross helps us, too
As Lent begins this month, I recall the Stations of the Cross, in particular, the station in which Simon helps Jesus carry his cross. It captures my attention. Simon, most likely on a long pilgrimage from Cyrene (in today's Libya) to Jerusalem for Passover, was "compelled" into service by the Roman soldiers. What did he feel? Not given a choice, did he bemoan his bad luck? Did he wonder how he could take on this burden given his own fatigue? Did he worry about being tainted in the service he was about to render to a "criminal"? Was he moved by compassion for a man beaten, tortured and made a spectacle for the public?
Finding the good news in the news
One of the first questions a news editor asks when hearing a story idea is, "Is it news?" Generally speaking, if the story is about something ordinary, for instance, "Dog bites man," the answer is often no. If it's uncommon, "Man bites dog," then the story is one step closer to clearing the hurdle of newsworthiness.