Let’s work together to make life easier for kids — Somebody shared a meme. It showed a statue of a dog. The statue’s head shined because passers-by couldn’t help themselves from reaching out to give it a pat. Consider that for a moment. Tens of thousands of people, each of them different in their own way, yet similar in their…

The rigid parameters of rural thinking form a cage — I’d worked with Jeff for a few weeks out on the farm, about half a year before he took his own life. I can’t remember if I was driving yet. I suspect I wasn’t. His dad had sent him to work at our place to see if a change of…

The key to progress lies in tethering yourself to reality — Some of the best times of my life were spent playing make-believe with childhood friends. We’d gather together and come up with big ideas and laugh and have a wonderful time. Then we’d go our separate ways and all our big plans were lost to the wind. This routine continued…

Democrats obstruct progressives, Republicans hate Democrats — I was disappointed to stumble across an article yesterday in which Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman took a casual swipe at Progressives. In a contentious election cycle, does it really make sense to use language which can alienate one of the main groups necessary for securing a victory? Unfortunately, attacking Progressives…

There is a callous indifference to human suffering in the United States — My wife is an English teacher. Last year she worked with a child who had escaped the war in Ukraine. Fortunately, the little boy still had both of his parents, but my wife had to help him through an extremely difficult transition. I remember the look on her exhausted face…

Don’t forget to look back and recognize how far you’ve come — My wife showed me a picture of her new classroom with her name on the door. “You did it,” I said. “Did what?” “You achieved your objective. Ten years ago you said you wanted to be a teacher at the local school district. Now you are! Congratulations!” She has a…

Our whole social hierarchy creates an exploitable mechanism — I grew up in an unincorporated town in Northern Wisconsin. My school district served many small communities within a large geographical area. Every morning we took a 45 minute bus ride to a metropolis of 2,000 people. It was the nearest town with facilities that came the closest to meeting…

Why you should never read the title and then scroll down to survey the discussion — Don’t do it! Don’t be one of those people who sees a title and says, “I wonder what the general public thinks of this article?” Don’t be a person who scrolls past the content, goes directly to the comments and exclaims, “Wow, everybody disagrees with this writer! …

There have been flashes of liberal actions in our history, but no true progressive movement — I keep receiving comments and seeing news stories that follow some variation of, “First, you’re wrong to criticize conservatives, second extreme liberals are equally out of control.” You could restate this contradictory argument as, “The behavior you’re talking about doesn’t exist, and the only people doing it are people like…