A Word Aptly Spoken

My friend Karoline and I went to see a movie this past week.  We sat down and, as the lights dimmed, I was transported in the “way-back machine” to my high school days.  And what a wonderful trip it was!  The movie we were seeing was The Jesus Revolution.  It takes place in the late…

I haven’t been writing.  But I’ve been thinking about doing it.   As always, thinking about doing something actually doesn’t produce anything – not a product, not an expectation met, not a sense of accomplishment. I haven’t written journal entries or blog posts or long Facebook posts or even lengthy emails.  Maybe winter inertia set…

The late singer Harry Chapin used to ask a “what if” question.  What would happen if we all came together after the generosity shown to our neighbors through the holiday season and discussed the fact that these people are hungry all year.  They aren’t lacking food and basic necessities only on Thanksgiving day and during…

What she said: You have to look inward to find a way to fill the holes in your life, to find your strength, your connection. What I heard: Yeah, nobody’s going to be there, nobody’s going to help you, nobody’s ever going to care enough to help meet your needs. Handle it yourself. I hear…

I am currently reading Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale by the late Frederick Buechner.  With all of my reading and my reading about books and authors, I’m not sure why I had never come across this man until he died and people I knew and respected talked of his…

One of the more difficult choices humans face every single day is whether being vulnerable is something they can do in front of family, friends, co-workers, strangers, or even themselves.  It is hard for most people at some time, but if you suffer from depression or anxiety or both, then you can be frozen with…

Robert Frost once said that good fences make good neighbors. Right now I am thinking of those fences in terms of boundaries, and I have to say I agree. One of the things that parents should teach children is to have boundaries. Adults are good at giving children boundaries – bedtime, how far from the…

July 4th is upon us.  Independence Day.  I don’t think I’m celebrating this year.  I grew in the American public schools where I dutifully stood daily and recited.  “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty…

___________________________________________________________________________ BEFORE YOU READ THIS, PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE SPOKEN TO SEVERAL PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH THE SITUATION. I HAVE NOT CONTACTED ANY SCHOOL DISTRICT BECAUSE I FRANKLY DIDN’T THINK THEY WOULD ANSER MY QUESTION. ALSO NOTE:  I have friends on Facebook who teach in the Cumberland Valley School District.  I have not spoken to…

On April 30, 2022 country music star Naomi Judd died. Her daughters announced that they had lost their mother to mental illness. “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness,” the statement said. “We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we…