Learn from history or repeat it, the popular maxim goes. The problem is, Continue reading →

Sunday, June 18 is Father’s Day. While our modern society tends to celebrate this holiday with sales on gas grills and killer deals on power tools, there’s a lot more to being a father than all of that.

While I don’t have any children of my own, I do have a father, which I’m guessing is true of most people reading this. In honor of Father’s Day, I’d like to share and briefly reflect on some of the valuable lessons I’ve learned from my own father over the years.

As I would imagine is true of most children, I learned a lot from my dad as I was growing up, and I owe much of who I am today to his influence. One of these lessons, however, stands out above all the rest in my mind. The best part is Continue reading →

“Gosh I’ve got a lot of junk!”

I must have said that line a couple dozen times over the course of the last few weeks. As I know is the case with many people, my recent move to a new place made me realize once more just how many material items I actually own.

I think most of us have been in this situation at one point or another, piling all of our worldly possessions into storage totes, bags, and boxes so we can move them to a new location where they will Continue reading →

Pulling on my new pair of non-slip hospital socks this week definitely brought back some old memories. So too did lying in a bed for several hours wearing a white gown and robe with strict orders not to get up or move my head.

I can’t say the memories were all good ones—because they weren’t—but I’m pleased to report that the day ended very well. It went Continue reading →

We’ve all been there, standing in line at the store, waiting patiently to purchase our groceries while scantily-clad, heavily-Photoshopped women stare longingly at us from the glossy covers of the surrounding magazines in the check-out aisle. As if there were any doubts as to the sort of material within these publications, the cover lines shout out such phrases as “His #1 Sex Fantasy,” “Bad Girl Sex,” “12 Kinky Quickies,” or “21 Mind Blowing Sex Moves.”

It’s likely most of us have come to accept the presence of these scandalous publications as a fact of life. We don’t like them, but Continue reading →

It was a year ago this month that a friend of mine, Paul Mackedanz, was struck by a car and killed as he worked along a roadway down in Texas. He was only 23 years old.

While Paul and I weren’t inseparable by any means, I always enjoyed talking with him whenever I got the chance, as he was one of the friendliest guys I’ve ever known. Judging by the size of the crowd that attended his visitation and funeral, I’m not the only one who thought this about him.

While his best friends and family members undoubtedly suffered far more pain than I did at his passing, Paul’s death had a very significant impact on me as well, Continue reading →

“All-male, all-Roman Catholic majority on Supreme Court puts religious wrongs over women’s rights.”

Thus read an advertisement which appeared in the New York Times in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby and other employers who objected Continue reading →

Once, during my junior year of college, one of my history professors asked our class how many people in our room wouldn’t even be alive if it weren’t for modern medicine.

About a third of us raised our hands.

Looking back, I think it was a bit startling for everyone to see Continue reading →

Walking through those doors is always a mind-blowing experience. I’m not exaggerating when I say I believe the sight behind those glass gates is one of the most incredible our country has to offer.

I am talking, of course, about Continue reading →

On the first day of my Ancient and Medieval Civilizations class, I always ask my students why we study history. One of them always replies that if we don’t learn from history, we will be doomed to repeat it.

I think this is true. I also think that we as a people never learn from history.

This past week brought up an interesting Continue reading →