“O, hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky; but can you not discern the signs of the times?” Matthew 16:3 ********** Reading is dangerous. It exhumes thoughts, disturbing thoughts, thoughts that poke us, voices that whisper, images of smiling frogs being boiled, signs that expose culture’s addictive character. Can we change our …
It was a late-summer Sunday when eight of us pulled up to the gates of Angola State Prison, Angola, Louisiana. The notice read: “You are entering a penal institution,” a wakeup call for nerves. We were here to witness the annual Angola Prison Rodeo. For over fifty years the prison has staged this rodeo. It’s …
Be careful of the pedestal you erect if you’re the hero of your own story. Anonymous ********** Our screened porch overlooks the pool and two small gardens. It’s a pleasant place to watch the birds elbow for position on the feeder and listen to their chorale, especially early morning, when mental initiative sleeps in. Suddenly …
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they saw that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Cataract surgery can backfire on you. ********** Cataracts have been a scourge on mankind since the dawn of time. Medical science has merged with technology and money to eradicate this …
“And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to myself.” Words of Jesus, John 12:32 This is Holy Week in the Christian world. Through all the passion and pageantry, the cross takes center stage. But for most of the other 364 days, it stands naked and alone, suspended on pedestals in …
Women talk. Men don’t listen. Or won’t. Or can’t. There’s a gender disconnect. Why? Because men can’t read between the lines and are unschooled in discerning the subtlety of a message. ********** Age is instructive as well as destructive. We learn even as we forget. Sometimes we have to re-learn what we’ve supposedly already learned. …
It’s Saturday morning. I retrieve the newspapers, all three of them. The local fish wrapper, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Balanced perspectives are important. I know what you’re thinking, no one can reconcile such disparate opinions into a cohesive consensus of what’s important today. It’s like trying to get harmony from …
America is in turmoil. It’s ungovernable. Order is fugitive. Dysfunction reigns. A comedy of Democratic dodos. The solution? Create more states. But how? Annex Mexico? It’s too late. Done. Over. We’re talking mental states. Democracy for the mental demographic. Aggregate, collate, dominate. Divide and conquer. Perfect integrations, ideal for election campaign strategies. Easier for politicians …
“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying: And this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.” Poet, Robert Herrick (1591-1674) In our front yard are three tall pine trees. Springtime enshrouds them in vast array of purple wisteria. Like flowering nooses, the gnarled wisteria vines ascend skyward to …
March opens the door to Spring. It’s the month when the Great Silent Voice speaks: “Time’s up, release without remorse and make way for the new.” Nature has a different set of rules for the live oaks that canopy the islands of coastal Georgia. They’re programmed to shed their leaves in Spring, not in …