At times, men can be symbols. And symbols matter. Today, two men – two symbols – come to mind. Let us begin with the first. It was May, 1940. A vicious Nazi war-machine had conquered Poland, Norway, Denmark, and began an unprecedented Blitzkrieg attack on Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France. The Nazi victories were the fruits of a crafty megalomaniac, a German population hungry for revenge, and a passive international community who grievously underestimated Adolf Hitler. The British Empire, increasingly... Read more

“We know that [the Birth of Christ] celebrates the central event of history; the Incarnation of the divine Word for the redemption of humanity.” – Pope Benedict XVI An Extraordinary Thing has happened. And we celebrate it every year. But do we really? Surely there is plenty of discussion about Christmas each year. First, we consider the tasks we must perform before we can truly enjoy the season – shopping, cooking, card-writing, and traveling. Next, we consider how nice it will... Read more

“Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it…Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.” – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol      So begins, arguably, the most famous literary Christmas tale written in the last two hundred years. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens has been printed and reprinted countless times. It has... Read more

It all looked so simple. Last Saturday afternoon, my wife, two young daughters, and I ventured to the local performing arts center for the Academy of Russian Ballet’s 2012 rendition of  “The Nutcracker Suite”. It was delightful. The experience was unforgettable thanks to a spacious auditorium with (mercifully) copious legroom, nostalgic sights and sounds of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece, and most importantly, the rapt attention of my three and five year-old daughters. It was a joy to watch my own neophyte dancers... Read more

     Three plays. Three defensive plays. That was all. The game was already effectively won with an insurmountable lead and two dozen seconds left to play. The three plays came and went. And that’s all there was to it. This was the sum total of playing time for an otherwise forgotten young man in the history of college football. It is the story of Daniel Eugene Ruettiger (Pictured in #45 jersey). But we all know him as “Rudy”. Rudy... Read more

It was a long ride home. Four hours to be exact and this time I was the passenger. It was an icy mid-December, college finals were over, and Christmas break had begun. As the frigid Minnesota farmlands rolled by, I eagerly anticipated family time, sleeping in, and intellectual endeavors that had nothing to do with biology or organic chemistry. Reaching into my overstuffed bag of books, magazines, and articles, I pulled out Time Magazine’s annual “coronation issue”: The Man (or... Read more

“There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it... Read more

“Have you ever read this?”. These were the words I remember him saying to me. Scott was a third-year medical student. For six weeks, we had worked together on an inpatient internal medicine rotation where I served as his senior resident. The role of a resident is to mentor the medical students who are still quite wet behind the ears. On starting the internal medicine rotation, medical students have recently emerged from the crypt-like classrooms where for eight hours a... Read more

     “I did once say that to me art and the saints are the greatest apologetic for our faith.” – Pope Benedict XVI Years ago, as a young university student, I was privileged to sing in the college choir. Perhaps the greatest honor of my singing career was embarking on a European tour with concerts in some of the greatest cathedrals in the world. Surrounded by the ferocious gargoyles of Notre Dame, standing atop the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral,... Read more

When I was a young man, I was captivated by the movie, “Jurassic Park”. The movie (based on the best-selling book by Michael Crichton) portrays a brilliant, but ill-fated endeavor to genetically recreate and reintroduce dinosaurs to a lush, “secure” jungle paradise. Once complete, the presumed failsafe enterprise would be marketed as an unparalleled safari-amusement park. The premise of the book and movie were extraordinary because they wedded naive scientific enterprise with fearsome unpredicted outcomes. The movie was a smash... Read more