Thoughts on getting things right… I haven’t had a day in the city lately. I’ve been ok with that. I usually relish days spent in my quiet village, far from the noise, the traffic, the barren faces of commuting crowds. I love getting off the train at the end of the ride home and smelling…

Recently, I posted a poll on two social media platforms: “True or false: Beauty is a moral requirement.” Across the two platforms, the average answer was 62% for False, and 38% for True. From DMs relating to the post, the default interpretation seemed to be that beauty meant ‘physical appearance’…

But you don’t have to be… In the film “Braveheart” there’s a moment when the irate king of England rants about the rebellious Scots with the phrase “Sheep! Mere sheep! Easily dispersed if you strike the shepherd!” What happens to sheep without a shepherd? They disperse, they wander, they look for a new herd. …

And why we should stop… I remember watching a video years ago recorded during the civil rights movement in the southern U.S. A black man, tall, well-dressed, with a proud step, was walking down the sidewalk. A group of about fifteen white men were gathered around him. Nothing in the video showed what came before…

The Gender Question, Pt 1. A recent billboard in the UK claimed that “All men are dangerous.” The common responses to this, I would think, would be either to agree and move on, or to be offended and complain. The right response, always, is to ask what this gives us…

We see the world as we are, not as it is — The 25th of January is Burns’ Day, the day when good Scots all over the world celebrate the visionary Scottish poet Robert Burns. …

6 Steps to a meaningful life — I’ve never had a bucket list. I guess I’m kind of odd. When I hear people talk about adventurous things like deep-sea diving or climbing Everest, I’m unsure of the payoff. My aims are generally milder sorts of things. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t lived an entirely sheltered life…

It’s Better than Seizing the Day… My oldest child just turned twelve last month. I was still pretty young when she was born, young enough to think of myself as a ‘cool’ dad. We were buddies when she was a baby. Before she could talk, I would play guitar and…

As a child, scared in the night, I’d go sleep in my parents’ room. My mom had a long, white night-dress that hung behind the bedroom door. In the darkness, it always looked to me like a skeleton. I have no idea how many nights I lay there afraid of…