Ninety people in a theatre aren’t a community — they’re strangers sharing an experience. The same is true for passengers on a plane or shoppers in a store. Community is the product of shared ownership and a commitment to the common good. There are many good books on developing community, but the best portrayal I’ve […]
We know we’re not staying, yet we don’t expect to leave.
Long-distance moving seems an apt metaphor for dying. Even when we know we’re going, we never expect to leave. Whether a move is welcome or of necessity, it’s difficult to say goodbye. Deciding what not to bring is stressful, and cultivating new rhythms and relationships takes time. It’s a clumsy bundle of emotions and disruption. Still, […]
How forgiveness works.
Let’s say I’m standing in waist-deep water off Chicago’s Foster Beach with a box of strike anywhere matches in my hand. If I light a match and dip it into the water, what will happen? Yes, it will go out. And if I did the same with a second match, it would also go out. Even […]
Patrick O’Brian on the storms of life
The tempests of life don’t always surprise us. Some we’ve faced before, and we often see them coming. When that’s the case, it helps to remember the experience. There’s an episode in Patrick O’Brian’s The Wine-Dark Sea that features four common stages of a storm. Though no two trials are identical, these stages rang true for me. […]
“Greatness Rather Than Promise”
“His third symphony revealed greatness rather than promise.” This was how the concert program introduced Carl August Nielsen, the Danish composer whose symphony we were enjoying. Rigorous aspirations are crucial to growth, but they also take time and repetition to master. It’s why cellists practice, pilots up their skills on simulators, writers rewrite, doctors pursue […]
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