Every week at the Sunday School I attended as a child, the superintendent closed our brief worship service with the same words. “Let’s all join in the Mizpah Benediction.” Then we would recite, in lyrical King James English: The Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from another. I have no doubt that our superintendent, a… Read more »
In 1955, a pair of psychologists transformed their insights into human behavior into a simple illustration. Instead of opting for a fancy technical label, they named it after themselves. Thus Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham unveiled the Johari Window. Imagine a window with four panes. The panes represent four different categories of what I know and what others know about… Read more »
“Kill him! Kill the quarterback!” That’s the cry of every National Football League fanbase. If you can flatten your opponent’s QB, your odds of winning the game automatically skyrocket. Fans of the Buffalo Bills had to be elated last Saturday evening when Lamar Jackson, the uber-talented signal caller for the Baltimore Ravens – and last year’s unanimous league MVP –… Read more »
Two years ago, the great Garfield Phone Mystery was finally solved. Early in the 1980s, after a fierce Atlantic storm, bright orange objects began to appear on the beaches of the Brittany coast of France. They were Princess-style phones in the shape of a certain pizza-loving cartoon cat. If you pick up the receiver, Garfield’s eyes flutter open. The novelty… Read more »
Just say Yes…and. That’s the secret of relationship jazz. So often the first word out of our mouths is No. That may happen at home, in the workplace, and in the public square. That’s a dumb idea… We tried that before and it flopped… You know we can’t afford it… You’ll shoot your eye out… There you go again… I… Read more »
A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the second part of a sentence or phrase turns out to be surprising or unexpected. Often they make us smile. Where there’s a will, I want to be part of it. I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror like the passengers in his… Read more »
The year 1968 had already been traumatic. In January, the Tet Offensive had awakened America to the hopelessness of Vietnam. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were felled by assassins’ bullets during the spring. The summer was racked by rioting and protests, Czechoslovakia’s futile revolt against the Soviet Union, and the chaos of the Democratic National Convention in… Read more »
If you are a parent or grandparent, what Hollywood movie character would you least like the little ones in your life to emulate? One of the primary candidates would have to be Veruca Salt, that disturbingly self-centered brat from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Midway through the classic film, she insists on seizing one of Wonka’s geese that lays… Read more »
Walter Cronkite, the long-time CBS anchor who became “America’s most trusted voice,” lived into his early 90s. His affable spirit, commitment to journalistic integrity, and deep love for his wife Betsy never faltered. His hearing was a different matter. Betsy was fond of telling about the time when the two of them, late in life, walked into a little grocery… Read more »
The Matterhorn is a mountain like no other. At 14,692 feet, it’s hardly the tallest peak in the world. In fact, it’s only the 12th highest summit in the Alps, and barely cracks the global list of the top 400. But the Matterhorn is hands-down the most photographed peak on the planet, not least because of its striking resemblance to… Read more »