February 8, 2021
So how are you doing 12 months into this COVID-19 era? If the media reports are anywhere close to the heart of the matter you’re not doing well. Infections and deaths increase every day, depression is up, divorce, thoughts of suicide, alcoholism climbing, disturbing increase of abused infants at emergency wards, sorrow on sorrow…we’re suffering […]
January 18, 2021
The “Golden Rule” is under duress these days. A casual summary of Covid protocols from a governmental medical authority was recently posted, “Stay away from other people”. Blunt, succinct, and counter-intuitive, if not biblically dissonant. Indeed, culturally dissonant too. The core value of reaching out to those in need, let alone achieving social harmony via […]
January 11, 2021
This week a “day of infamy” occurred in Washington DC. We all watched it unfold and we’re all troubled not only by the insurrection itself but by the implications. There’s a lot of blame-shifting and/or soul searching going on depending on political ideologies and adherence or non-adherence to conspiracy theories. But, regardless of polarities, no […]
December 21, 2020
Everywhere people are gearing up for a truncated, if not solitary, Christmas Day. The Covid news keeps deteriorating. As of the past few days we’re suddenly aware of a Covid “variant” that has emerged in the UK. Yikes! Scores of countries are closing borders to any British attempts at entry. All this while Brexit […]
December 7, 2020
We just celebrated the first Sunday of Advent. Christmas is less than a month away! The long established magic of the season is trying to gain traction, but Covid is pushing back. The online shopping, house decorating (apparently there’s a huge run on Christmas trees),and Zoom connections are all in gear, but the elephant in […]
November 24, 2020
Looking out the window from my desk I’m watching a squirrel preparing her nest for the winter. For her the rhythm of life continues as usual. For us, however, the rhythm is irregular and scary. As I write, the Internet news is all about the second wave of Covid and the distressing awareness that Christmas […]
October 19, 2020
This “second wave” of Covid is no surprise but it is troubling. It’s a bit much to hear we may be under protocols for another year, barring a vaccine breakthrough. Even those whose tendencies to depression have been minimal are sounding a touch gloomy. Little wonder. We’re made for fellowship. In the book […]
October 5, 2020
It’s a big world out there. The mind is boggled by reports of natural disasters ( eg. wild fires on the west coast of America), wars ( latest being Armenia vs Azerbaijan), widespread corruption (read: government leaders everywhere), and relentless surges of Covid. Could bring on a surge of depression! Nevertheless the critical […]
September 21, 2020
I read an interesting article recently about the decline of Saudi Arabia and the rise of Israel as a geopolitical partner of the UAE and Bahrain. This is no surprise to me as someone who lived in Jerusalem for seven years. The plight of the Palestinians, although the “poster boy” of the Arab […]