A friend recently left her youngest son at college, and is struggling with the emotions erupting inside her. I was reminded of a piece I wrote many years ago when we took our son to college. (Posted previously in November of 2016.) “What’s happen’n here is a long goodbye.” …
Just Released: Questions That Matter
Just released on Amazon.com (www.amazon.com/dp/0692920196/), my new book entitled: Questions That Matter From the back Cover: Would you be willing to share with me, why you want to live? This question, asked of people so bereft of joy and connection that they have considered ending their lives, has taught Roger Breisch much about life and …
The Universe Rearranging Itself
The caller could barely begin the conversation. “I feel as though I’m having a nervous breakdown,” he said in a voice trembling with fear, sadness and deep pain. In the next few moments, his heart broke open. A woman he has cared for…a person for whom he has done a great many things over four …
Should We See It Another Way?
The question begs another: What is the “It” to which I refer? Pardon me if I slip momentarily, but unapologetically, from inquiry to certainty. The “It” to which I refer is fully inclusive. I can think of little in all human experience, knowledge, perception, or wisdom that we should allow to slip from our inquisitive …
A Masterpiece in the Making
One evening this past February, at Operation Snowball, the teen leadership program for which I volunteer, a young woman approached me about a deep sadness that momentarily infused her life. I spoke with her briefly, but the appropriate words eluded me in that moment. The next morning I sent her the following note. Gianna, Let …
Understanding, Forgiveness & Love
“Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” I have been deeply moved by the work and words of Bryan Stevenson. His book, “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” shattered my view of criminal justice, and informed my understanding of what it means to be human. How many, even …
The Significance of My Insignificance
It’s time again for resolutions, but in this moment, it is not New Year’s resolutions I seek. I am, instead, in a quandary about New Epoch’s resolutions. What might I resolve as we enter what many geologists are calling the Anthropocene Epoch? Anthropocene, much like Anthropology or anthropomorphic, takes its root from the Greek anthropos, …
A Long Goodbye
On a recent Operation Snowball retreat, I was deeply moved by a wise, kind and generous young man struggling to find himself within a difficult and heartbreaking life. When he and I spoke, I talked of the need for him, as he became an adult, to redefine his relationship with his parents. That conversation reminded …
Self Before Others?
“Your analysis of your life and its failures has the ring of truth since congruent with your self-preoccupation.” This comment appeared unbidden on my blog. It evoked a great deal of thought and reflection about what occupies my life…and what should. My first reaction was colored by fear and humiliation, with various shades of self-recrimination. …
To One Who Changed My Life
Many recall at least one teacher who, because they saw something in us, changed our lives. Sadly, we seldom take time to thank them. In every school there are teachers to be avoided. Sometimes for good reason, but just as often, the object of our terror was the teacher who demanded what they knew we …