Donald Trump’s presidency taught us the strength of our institutions depends upon our goodwill.  They work because we want them to.   If we doubted the integrity of the ballot box and our judicial system, for example, we’d condemn ourselves to second-guessing every outcome.  I

Being someone who meditates for enlightenment, I decided to bend my thoughts to the state of our democracy. My reason for doing so was this statement: the public has more confidence in the military than any other national institution. (“Crisis of Command,” by Risa Brooks et al, Fo

Each evening when I turn off my bedside lamp, I pause to consider the cataclysmic shifts that will occur while I sleep. Somewhere in the universe, a planet may drop into a black hole or a pair of distant stars collide. From the sea, crabs might scramble toward the shore to lay their e

Sex is good. Sex is fun.  But sex isn’t power.  Some women don’t grasp that fact.  Crammed into padded bras that make chin rests of their breasts, these gals ought to know when a man faces so much cleavage, he can’t hear a word they say.    The young female who wore a see-

“We make lists because we don’t want to die.” So says, Umberto Eco, medievalist, philosopher, and author of Foucault’s Pendulum. With lists, we attempt to manage time, knowing time is a nonrenewable resource.  A list fixes a task to memory and gives us the psychological satis

One evening this week, I listened to an expert’s advice on how to change the minds of unvaccinated people. He was selling an old technique called Active Listening. In this case, an individual repeats an antivaxer’s objections, so the person will be satisfied those objections have

Joe Biden, 46th President of the United States is a  mild-mannered man who shares Mr. Rogers’ temperament more than most in politics. But he’s not withheld criticism of those who refuse to wear masks in public places during the pandemic. He accused these offenders of  Neandertha

The young woman was standing on the curb a short distance from the grocery store, her shopping cart overflowing with purchases. She was muttering to the air in angry tones, so I intended to skirt around her, presuming she was one of the mentally ill who inhabits our streets. Something

His public defender said my testimony had saved his client from the death penalty.  I’d worked with the prisoner in an ex-offenders program while I was in public life.  His first incarceration was for theft. When he came to the program, I  found him personable and recommended tha

The day after Joe Biden’s inauguration, a friend emailed me a question. “What should I make of this,” she wrote. Her note included the remarks of a woman she’d known most of her life and who, decades earlier, had served as Maid of Honor at her wedding. Having assumed they were