Overlooking an Offense

In her book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin chronicles the impact of Lincoln’s kindness to his enemies even as they attacked and smeared him. President Lincoln’s unwillingness to retaliate produced results for...

Trust…foolish naïveté?

I was handed a can of beer upon entering a high school party. The words of my mother echoed in my ears, "I trust you implicitly; please don't ever betray my trust." As a teenage boy these words could not have been more frustrating! But my mother knew...

Slogans are not enough!!

Life is hard! This past month many of the hardest situations we face in life have reared their ugly heads in the lives of my friends – death, cancer, and betrayal. I wanted to encourage them and give solace. But words seemed so inadequate for gut-wrenching...

Truthiness – Word of the Year!

The American Dialect Society creates a word that best reflects the uniqueness of each year. TRUTHINESS is the winner for 2005 – defined as:  "the quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than facts." (USA Today,...

Diagnosing at the Mall

While his wife shopped at the mall, an endocrinologist sat in a coffee shop gazing at the passersby. He "diagnosed" shoppers with an intelligent guess. No history. No physical exam. No laboratory tests. Just a moment's gaze at a limp or a distinguishing...