Higher Living Reflections

Those of an age likely recall Don McLean’s 1972 megahit, “American Pie.” Though an easily sung, melodic tune, the song is a stream of forlorn allusions that when woven together become…

I’ve begun reading Peggy Noonan’s latest book. It’ll take me a while to complete. The reason isn’t because it’s extraordinarily long or complex or that it’s one of several I’m immersed…

When it comes to our nation’s history, I’m a romantic. I can’t help it. I love learning more about it…one can never know it all. I don’t mean romantic in a…

The Revolutionary War began in April 1775 at the Battle of Lexington and Concord. After the Shot Heard Round the World, there could be no compromise. The American rebellion either had…

When writing “The Gift for Hope” for Food for Thought: Essays on Mind and Spirit, I approached The Great Gatsby from the concept of hope. The reason was Jay Gatsby modeled…

Regret is an interesting concept. We generally use it when thinking about stupid decisions we made, harmful acts we performed, or positive acts we should’ve done but didn’t. We also use…

“A fever called Living.” It’s a line in Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “To Annie.” I was so moved by it that I instantly decided it would make an ideal theme and…

When I began teaching freshman English, I knew I faced a challenge. Years of teaching eighth graders had taught me girls would read pretty much whatever I put before them. Boys,…

“These are times that try men’s soul.” So wrote Thomas Paine in The American Crisis on December 19, 1776. Six days later on Christmas Night, General George Washington led his Continental…

I fondly recall the tour I took of Hearst’s Castle on the California coast. I hadn’t planned on it, but when I saw how the woman at the welcome center, after…

The great American poet Maya Angelou once proclaimed, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” It’s a powerful, incisive statement. It cuts through the fog of…

It was a Christmas night like the ones over the years. Close to three dozen of us gathered into our family’s eight hundred square foot house. The little ones played in…

It was intriguing to listen to two friends jocularly engage in an exchange about being opinionated. While their back-and-forth was in context of their discussion group, I was hearing it through…

From time to time, we’re shaken by the news that someone we personally knew or knew about took their life. In moments like that, we’re often taken unawares, stunned, and bewildered…

Have you ever escaped to nature and encountered more than you expected? Feeling embittered after a fracturing of a deep, personal relationship and finding his emotional, psychological, and spiritual energies depleted,…