A recent, innocent-sounding Facebook message from a friend brought back a childhood memory…one I was not eager to relive. But the experience is teaching me a great deal about what it means to be alive. The message pointed me to two TED.com talks by Brené Brown. If you have not spent time with TED …
Tomorrow morning you will begin a chapter in your life beyond my understanding. I could not be more proud—more in awe—than I am. You have worked diligently to arrive at this moment, and in that journey I have witnessed in you a sense of purpose, dedication and joy, the depths of which astound me. …
If I am open to the road less traveled, life lies in wait to take me on extraordinary journeys. A recent such escapade began in the most unlikely of places—with an obscure comment in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. Isaacson mentions, in passing, a book Jobs reportedly reread every year. It wasn’t a …
If it was that easy, we would all do it, and put an end to much of human misery. The world can be frightening for any of us, but for teens who are struggling to awaken to who they are in the world, it’s especially difficult. Recently, a courageous young man led a conversation with …
As I reflect on the human journey, today is the eve of the most holy of holy days on the Christian calendar. I am informed, and confused, by words attributed to Jesus as he neared death: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”that is, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” In this moment, I …
At the end of a very successful, and completely redesigned, Chamber event, I turned to a member of the Board and told him I felt much of the success emanated from having turned many of the evening’s details over the young man who was emcee. “You should do that more often!” he suggested. The lightness …
Every once in a while I am arrogant enough to think that life has left me in charge. When I believe I am, life is quick to remind me of my arrogance. Just before Christmas, the Operation Snowball family lost another teen to suicide. This past Thursday, the teen directors decided to use the …
“Finally I see…life has been patiently waiting for me” From the song “I’m Movin’ On” by Rascal Flatts. The song I’m Movin’ On and I had simultaneously visited the same space many times, but being in the same place with an idea, or a person, does not mean you are friends…or even acknowledge …
The following will be published in the next issue of Neighbors of Batavia Magazine. Like a modern day Parthenon, it wore the ravages of time—but this monument to human endurance had no one to defend it against old age, or protect it for future generations. It stood pockmarked and failing, left as nothing more than …
What appears below was published recently in Neighbors of Batavia magazine. “It must have been a place so dark you couldn’t feel the light, reaching for you through that stormy cloud.” Country Music Group Rascal Flatts In the prior issue of Neighbors (published here on April 12 as “Connections”), I said, “…when a …