In the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey suggested to “begin with the end in mind”. He suggested that the reader should write his/her own eulogy, as a set of long term goals. In other words, if you think about what your long-term goals are, you are more likely to achieve […]
Roman Numerals
(I wrote the following essay a couple of weeks ago, and for technical reasons, I never posted it. Between the time that I wrote it, and today (December 12, 2017), Carson Wentz tore his ACL.) —– I am a lifelong fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. “Lifelong”, as in I have been attending Philadelphia Eagles games […]
Pedestals
I was walking through Philadelphia yesterday, and I passed a statue. Statues have been in the news a lot lately. Cities and towns all over the United States are engaged in conversations about who is/isn’t appropriate to be celebrated with a statue. I spent the rest of the day thinking about why we put people […]
When An Intruder Breaks In
“What was that?” It was the middle of the night in February 1993. Theresa and I were sound asleep, and were woken suddenly by loud noises above us. “What was that?” At first it sounded like someone was walking on the roof. There was definitely movement above us. Footsteps. The next sound that I heard […]
Never Again
One week ago, there was a march in Charlottesville, Virginia called “Unite the Right”. At that march, attendees brought torches, Nazi flags, white supremacist flags, and as much hatred as they could muster. The head of the Ku Klux Klan attended. At the end of the day, one of the attendees rammed his car into […]
Beat The Traffic
I have experienced some incredible traffic jams. Some of my worst examples: On the way to a Grateful Dead concert (July 4, 1987), my friend Alan, Theresa and I got caught in the mother of all traffic jams. We exited I-95 (about 4 miles from the stadium) 5 hours before show time. We did not […]
My First Book Donation
When I announced the publication of my book (Can Openers:Essays About Life and Love), I promised that I would donate all of the proceeds to Philadelphia area charities. I made my first donation to TE Care, a Chester County non-profit that Theresa and I work with. Details about them can be found at TECare.org. I […]
Spider Webs
I go to a park near our home at least once a week. I take my dog there (or maybe he takes me there, I’m not sure). There is a walking trail about one mile long. There is an ice house on the trail. Ice houses were structures built before the invention of refrigerators. They […]
Radical Hospitality
(I wrote the following blog post for Broad Street Ministry in Philadelphia. They published it on their website at http://www.broadstreethospitality.org/2017/07/10/radical-hospitality/) My wife and I started volunteering at Broad Street Ministry (BSM) a few years ago. The first time I volunteered, I saw a big green sign on the wall that says “Radical Hospitality Practiced Here”. What […]
Kicking The Can Down The Road
There is an expression in English: “kicking the can down the road”. It means not dealing with something. In other words, if I am “kicking the can down the road”, I am delaying action on something that I should be acting on right now. Another word for this is “procrastination”. Procrastination was one of the […]
