It’s disturbing to learn that someone in the same profession was murdered while walking home from work. Samuel Paty, who taught a curriculum similar to mine, was beheaded by an extremist outside of Paris on Oct. 16. Paty presented material in previous weeks as part of a study of freedom of speech that some found…
Someone said, ‘Greed is good’ and we repeated it. But the only thing that matters when you die is your legacy
I have to apologize to the youth of the world for the state we find ourselves in. Yes, great things have happened in my lifetime. We watched the fall of the Berlin Wall and we have taken some steps in the progress of human rights. But the legacy of the baby boomer generation leaves little…
Holocaust survivor Eva Kor died in the summer of 2019 while in Poland doing one of the things she found most meaningful: touring a group of young people through the Auschwitz concentration camp. Her message remains: “Each of us has an important part to play in repairing the world. Be the change you wish to…
When a leader suggests he will subvert the democratic process, voters have recourse. We’ve seen it in the Philippines and elsewhere
An apocryphal story circulated in the Philippines in the early 1980s of a dinner party conversation between President Ferdinand Marcos and Catholic Bishop Jaime Sin. Marcos reportedly said, “I really admire those Americans. They know the results of their presidential elections the day of the election.” In response, Sin reportedly said, “Well how about us…
What message do we send dictators and the people who live under their tyranny if we don’t have the courage to live up to our own ideals?
It’s very rare to hear Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson and scholar Noam Chomsky agree on anything but a largely underreported topic brings both ends of the political spectrum together: the Julian Assange affair. In a recent interview, Carlson’s guest Glenn Greenwald pointed out that efforts to silence Assange go back to the administration of…
“We are witnessing America as a failed social experiment,” Ivy League philosopher Cornel West has said. West is not alone in this assessment. Numerous scholars are expressing similar concerns, including University of British Columbia professor Wade Davis, who recently published The Unraveling of America in Rolling Stone magazine. Are we really seeing the end of…
Deception and dishonesty aren’t new. When sending his disciples out into the world 2,000 years ago, Jesus gave the following advice: “I am sending you like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” People have always told lies to promote their agendas and to protect their economic interests.…
The great are those who strive valiantly, those who are willing to learn from their mistakes and try again
It’s a myth to think we’re only successful if we achieve our goals. The key to happiness is not only to have goals that are significant to us, but to dare greatly to achieve them. Former American president Theodore Roosevelt said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how…
We don’t have to look hard to realize many of our relatives have been victims of racism. If we live in comfort and freedom, it’s only because we’re lucky
I’m outraged as I write this. Yet another Black American, Jacob Blake, was shot in front of his children, in broad daylight and in cold blood by a white police officer. Miraculously, he survived, but it’s unlikely he will ever walk again. I’m also very inspired by the myriad of professional athletes refusing to play;…
Humour breaks down walls that divide us and builds empathy and understanding. It’s one of the most amazing, enriching aspects of being human
Humourist Paul Lowney said, “Laughter has no foreign accent.” I recall listening to Polish friends banter in their own language. Although I didn’t understand what they were saying, I found myself smiling. When one of them asked why I was laughing and whether I understood what they were saying, I simply said, “No, but you laugh the…