I do not get it. I've had many conversations like the one I had today. The gentleman I was speaking with is a very good man young family man and kind to all who know him. We had a political discussion that was relatively calm, and that in itself was refreshing. Yet, I don't understand why good people like this are so taken by Donald J. Trump who is not a true Republican and never has been.   Trump in so many ways is the opposite of past conservative politicians. Any true Republican would never have called mobs to the Capital in objection to counting electoral votes.  Can y ..read more

Saying "Good Grief" as an expression of frustration has been a common phrase from my youth.  But living with grief is so painful that I can hardly call it good.  The most I can say is that there are things that I've learned from grief. Most people over the age of 8 have experienced grief in one or more ways.  My experience of living with grief is that although I realize that grief is an experience of all humans, it is still deeply personal and it feels like I am alone on my own island.  I know my wife often feels the same. It is the morning of December 1st, 2023, and I sit ..read more

I wrote this little bit in the first week of December 2022, just after the midterm elections:  This week, as always, I'm proud to me an American.  But the reasons I'm proud this week feel different from the reasons I've had before.  When I was very young, I thought that America was the greatest country in the world because we won wars, or because we (most of us) had cars and washing machines.  As I got older and realized the challenges America has faced over two and a half centuries, I've been amazed by her resilience.  Despite a civil war and other times of great div ..read more

It has been 5 years now since Alex was shot July 7th, 2017.  Every day my mind runs through the years of his drug life, then that night of the shooting, then those months in the hospital, and then the day of his passing Deember 1st 2017.  I only experienced those events being a father watching the suffering of my son.  I still shudder to try to understand the depths of pain that Alex lived through.  The grief was excrutiating for me, so it must have been unbearable for Alex.  Forgetting and/or Forgiving A few weeks ago, a guest columnist, Rana Singh Sodhi, wrote a piec ..read more

To make a point about chicken catchers, I first must explain how I worked with and knew them.   In the late fall of 1988, I finished my MBA in International Business at Thunderbird (The American Graduate School of International Business as it was called then, which is now a branch of Arizona State University) I was hoping for an international career that would take me back to Thailand where Wendy and I had served our missions. I was eager, but being married and the father of two small children I felt the responsiblity and urgency as my school year was wrapping up to take a job quickly a ..read more

I recently finished listening to a book on Audible called, "After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond" by Dr. Bruce Greyson.  The book confirms what I expected- that near death experiences are both real and beneficial to those who have experienced them.  The book isn't sure what "real" means in this case as the author is not a religious person but is a scientist or at least is a doctor of pyschiatry and approaches the reports with a scientific eye.  But, to me, these types of experiences are evidence of spiritual life beyond physical death ..read more

  In 2 Kings 5:1-17, a great military leader of Syria, Naaman, who was stricken with leprosy had heard of the prophet Elisha in Israel who could heal his leprosy.  Naaman traveled to visit this great prophet.  When Naaman got there he sent his servant to speak with Elisha.  (Because of the leprosy, he had hoped that Elisha would come out and speak to him from a distance, after all Naaman was an important man).  Elisha told the servant to tell Naaman that if he will go bathe in the river Jordan seven times that his leprosy would be cured.  This enraged Naaman and ..read more

When I was a kid, I was a newspaper boy from about age 10 until I graduated from high school. Every morning my mother would wake me up and I'd deliver about 50 papers around our sleepy little town.  This was how I had a little spending money every week.  It wasn't much, but it was enough.  More than that, in my older age now, I've appreciated that my mother's sacrifice in making sure I competed the daily routine of getting up early and riding my bike or walking the paper route has made me a life long morning person. This morning, as I have done for years, I spent time by m ..read more

This past week on January 6th 2021 as I was watching C-Span's coverage of the electoral vote certification, President Donald Trump held a rally attended by a large crowd of supporters to “Stop the Steal” on the lawn of the White House. He told the crowd for the umpteenth time that the November election was stolen from him (and his supporters). Rudy Giuliani urged “Lets have trial by combat”, and President Trump told the large crowd to march to the capital and “be strong” to presumably force congress to stop or to change the outcome of the electoral votes certification. After the rally, at 1pm ..read more

 In following the Trump campaign's effort to challenge the election in the various states, and overturn the electoral process; it is apparent that the main argument of President Trump is that too many people voted in the election.  He is basically arguing that mail in, or early voting, or absentee ballots should be thrown out.  Because my wife and I voted early, I can only assume that Trump wants our votes thrown out as well. From the time I was young, I assumed that Republicans, like Democrats, encouraged more Americans to participate in the electoral process.  But no ..read more