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Sleeper Agents
Here’s a plot idea for an action-packed summer blockbuster: A quiet suburban housewife lives on a tree-lined street with her clean-cut husband and a pair of well-groomed kids. She drives a station wagon, attends the school PTA meetings, and occasionally bakes casseroles for her elderly neighbors. Anyone who drives past her house while she’s outside […]
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Back to the Start
The spiritual road I’ve traveled hasn’t always been the one I’ve expected. I’ve taken turns I didn’t plan to take and ended up on roads I didn’t know existed. There have been dead ends, detours, and more than a few flat tires. If you trace my steps (Family Circus style!), the resulting path would look […]
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When Will We Ever Use This?
It’s only a matter of time. Maybe it will happen in the middle of another futile attempt to explain the difference between direct and indirect objects. Maybe it will happen while pointing out that no, alliterations are not the same as allusions, neither of which are related to allegories or analogies, oh and by the […]
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Selective Memory
Never forget. After 20 years, it’s fitting that we once again remind ourselves to remember. The significance of that awful Tuesday—of its destructive terror and its heroic bravery—demands an enduring place in our collective consciousness. The only thing more tragic than the events themselves would be the mistake of letting them slip into the oblivion […]
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Reflections from the Winding Road
How did you get here? What glitch in the GPS accounts for this increasingly twisted route that once seemed so direct and predictable? You’re not quite sure where you are, but wherever it is, it’s nowhere on the map. At least not on the map you were given back when the journey began. Back when […]
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A Public Apology
Spiritual leaders are given access to the areas of life that people hold most sacred, the parts of themselves that most intimately define who they are. They aren’t just institutional decision-makers; they’re teachers, guides, counselors, examples. And nobody can do that sort of work without leaving a deep and lasting impact on other people. Sometimes […]
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My 6 Favorite Reads of 2020
It’s that time of year again. Time to look back and reflect on the books that I most enjoyed reading. And during this most discouraging of years, I’m perhaps more grateful than ever for the sanity-restoring diversion of getting lost in a book.
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All Lives Matter
It’s time we admit that they’re right. Yes, them. The people protesting the protests. The ultimate universalists. The brave warriors fighting back against the perceived danger of emphasizing the rights of one ethnicity over another. The ones chanting back at us: All! Lives! Matter!
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Statues and Skeletons
How do we actually deal with the ugly parts of our shared history, as opposed to just erasing them?