You stand in the present, this moment. You look into the future. At this juncture, standing now and looking ahead, you're expected to make a decision. Let's you and I go to an interested example of what seems a very ordinary situation. It's 1984. You're an executive working at Adidas, a sports footwear company based in Germany but with markets in many nations, including a very important one in … [Read more...]
April 10, 2015 by
April 3, 2015 by
What if polio doesn't strike Franklin Roosevelt? On August 10, 1921, Franklin Roosevelt awakens with his legs no different than the day before. He can walk. He can run. He can kick. He can jump. And over the weeks and months and years ahead, nothing changes about his legs. No massage therapy. No warm water treatments. No metal braces. No polio. So how might his life have different? … [Read more...]
April 3, 2015 by
There's a place, a physical space, where the former Presidents of the United States meet. And then there's a place, more of a mental and attitudinal state, where this same group exists for the purpose of helping whomever has the blessing or burden of serving as President of the United States in current time. Two journalists in Washington DC, Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, have collaborated on a … [Read more...]
March 24, 2015 by
Before Roy Schneider's dazed assessment that "we're going to need a bigger boat," before Richard Dreyfus and Robert Shaw unbuttoned shirts and rolled up sleeves to reveal their scars after a drunken meal below decks, and before Peter Benchley scratched out the first draft of his novel "Jaws", there was this painting. One of my favorites. I purchased a print of it years ago when I visited the … [Read more...]
March 24, 2015 by
You can walk right up and look in through a side door. Doesn't matter if you're dressed casually or not. Doesn't matter if you have decided to stop in at the last minute. Doesn't matter if you haven't paid for a ticket or arranged a tour with a guide. No guide, no ticket, no tour. No matter. You'll want to see this place. It's an old room in an old building. Right there, almost close enough … [Read more...]
March 24, 2015 by
The war. The Second World War. And one of the greatest movies of all time. 80 Decembers ago it was almost ready for release. If you want a glimpse into attitudes that Americans of that time had for the world at large, here's your chance to see it. Casablanca. You likely know the story of the movie. Bogart plays an American, Rick, who owns a bar/cafe in Casablanca, Morocco. To his shock, Ilsa, a … [Read more...]
March 24, 2015 by
Popular American music, the 1960s, and war likely conjure up a few clear images for you. I'll wager that the images pertain mostly to Vietnam and the numerous anti-war songs of the decade. For me, the most interesting such song of that decade belonged to my favorite American singer, my favorite American artist, Johnny Cash. It was the song, "The Ballad of Ira Hayes." Listen to it at the link … [Read more...]
March 24, 2015 by
"Mine eeeeyyyyyyyeeeeeessssss have seen the glor-y of the comin' of the Lord!!!!!" Martin Luther King Jr slumped into a chair and the waiting arms of his friends after having shouted this line in the last speech of his life. The anniversary of the date is this month of my posting on my website. April 3, 1968. Inside a local church, the Mason Temple, in Memphis, Tennessee. Martin Luther … [Read more...]
March 24, 2015 by
A moment is a blink of time. Everyone has a moment. The difference for each person is not simply in what the moment is, but also in what the moment becomes. Each of us has the opportunity to give it meaning, to carry it on. Most moments are lost, some are recalled. Here is a moment that I'd like to share with you. A few seconds along a chain link fence. I wrote in my first book, A Tragic … [Read more...]
March 24, 2015 by
The Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. Have you ever bothered to read anything about it? Ever heard about it? Perhaps a more basic question should be posed: ever heard of it? This event has a long shadow in the American experience. Here's how. (Winfield Scott and his US force near Mexico City) The Iraq War, or Gulf War II as I call it, wasn't the first conflict that produced internal … [Read more...]
