My Mother and I used to laugh at greeting cards that began: what is a x? No relationship was so sacred that a card couldn’t make it ludicrous. They were either so over the top, “a mother is an angel in suburbia,” or weirdly negative, “we have never talked much about feelings” that we avoided them. With apologies to Mom, however, this week after Father’s Day I feel inspired to list some of what Dad has taught me by word... Read more
When I was a boy, a person in my dad’s first church, better off than we were, gave me a Teddy bear that I cleverly named “Teddy.” If you love a bear, he will get a bit worn. This is particularly true, because when I outgrew stuffed animals as toys to hug, I organized them into a little kingdom. When afraid in the dark, I developed a backstory that my “animals” existed on top of the blankets keeping me safe... Read more
I am a small government conservative, supportive of the free market. More fundamentally, I am an orthodox Christian in the global church and this too has implications. As a result of being a global Christian, I know a good many Christians that support (for example) more socialist visions of economics and larger government. Some are critical of liberal democratic forms of government and argue for alternatives ranging from far larger Christian input than I support in governance to no involvement.... Read more
We have two new olive trees planted. One to remember an excellent person who died full of years worthy of honor and another to recollect a youngling who died a boy. We will meet, but we will miss them in different ways. A person who died full of good works at the end of a natural lifespan leaves us with the great gifts of a well spent life, yet lonely. We know the truth of the severe mercy of death:... Read more
Happiest Juneteenth! On this day, one of the last outposts of the Confederacy, Texas, got the news that slavery in the rebellious states had been ended by President Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation. The end of slavery in the United States would wait for the ratification of amendment XIII. When I was a boy, Juneteenth (June 19) was more regional, but the celebration has spread. Why not? We cannot celebrate the defeat of the Confederacy or the end of slavery... Read more
We must trust the experts, except when we cannot, and there is a particular kind of expert that is too often wrong: the expert who distills consensus opinion and makes it normative for all, smoothing out all the cranky dissent in every discipline. If one goes back one hundred years, this kind of expert opinion about what is happening, what is moral, or what we should believe is hopelessly wrong. I have yet to find an era where these homogenizing experts... Read more
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Real education, if you are open to it, gives you exactly this vision: Jesus, the Word of God, the personal operating system of creation, is known to you. Seeing Jesus will continually give you a vision of grace and truth . . . the two necessary elements to live successfully. A... Read more
The educational establishment is not listening. Debt increases. Parents and students keep paying for exploited part-time workers. Christians refuse not to do better. You can get a college education, borrow no money, be in the city, and be a traditional Christian. Orthodox. Classical. Christian. College. Debt free. More than one expert suggested to me that the idea of K-16 education was not prudent. We should take more sensible jobs, they were there, and forget the weird notion that college could... Read more
Nessie versus Athena? Nessie wins, more or less, though Athena maintains her dignity. This is the present “versus game” in our house, a game of great antiquity. One of my children, now a very clever adult, as a child wished for a school play on the Loch Ness monster and Dracula. These were two very great interests and the only other requirement was that in the play both creatures be REAL. I was not allowed to pawn off Nessie as a... Read more
The students rushed off to see the grave of a classical Russian novelist and our Russian friend began to cry. Had we been rude? Had our enthusiasm caused us recklessly to disregard customs that mattered? No. She explained to me (quietly) that she hardly ever came to this place any more with Russian guests. Why? Russian young adults were more interested in more superficial things, they had no interest (at all) in more difficult aspects of Russian culture. They like... Read more
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