There are a lot of unhappy people this week. Many who dreamed of and planned for vacations in Florida and Hawaii found themselves paying for the privilege of sitting in cold and wet climates. Others, thanks to record snowfalls on the east coast, faced cancelled trips and hours in airports or were unable to return...
A few weeks ago while expressing my reservations about Twitter I mentioned that I encouraged my children to write handwritten notes of thanks or sympathy. One reader wrote in asking why. In her words: What’s wrong with an email? Both take time to write isn’t one just a modern form of the other? That got...
I love this season. I don’t celebrate Christmas but I respect it and enjoy its sights and sounds. I enjoy the music in the malls. I enjoy the lavishly lit displays and colorfully decorated homes. All this is far more noticeable in cities than in remote rural areas. Cities are places where the highs are...
Film critic Roger Ebert is proposing that since today’s youth are regularly exposed to profanity, sex and violence, the Motion Picture Association of America should revamp the movie rating system. Aside from the easy availability of anything and everything on computers, he correctly says that with multiplex cinemas it is simple to buy a ticket...
When I have been away from home as much as I have the last few months, I get a fierce desire to do laundry, cook and tidy. Last week, when I returned to my own house, after getting basic laundry under control and going to the supermarket, I began cleaning out THE CLOSET. For years,...
Tonight we light the 8th and final light of Chanukah. Chanukah serves as an antidote to one of the most oppressive sensations that torments us all—shortage. We agonize over shortage of money, space, love, health, and friends. Scarcity is even promoted as a part of the sacred sacrament of secularism. It is indeed the rightful...
The preamble to ‘The Moment of Truth’, the report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, makes a brief and powerful plea for paying attention to the recommendations which follow. I found it oddly moving – not a word I often use about a government document – and I am willing to put aside cynicism...
The obituary took me by surprise. When I first learned of the Rev. George Docherty, I unthinkingly placed him in the category of historical personage. Yet, there was the notice of his death on Thanksgiving, 2008, at the age of 97. Along with those my age and younger, I learned the Pledge of Allegiance...
Tonight, I will not be counting my money by the light of the Chanukah candles. Nor will I do so on any of the remaining evenings of this eight day festival. Unlike the Sabbath candles or the candles for other holydays, these Chanukah flames must not be used for any other purpose. For instance, you...
I have no opinion about North Korea’s aggressive actions. Ditto for the Wikileaks’ scandal. My lack of engagement is not because either of these is unimportant, but rather because they don’t rank as urgent in my daily life. If I don’t pick up my new granddaughter when she cries, I get immediate and loud feedback...
