Essays 1-20

I don’t think curiosity killed the cat. I don’t know which particular cat the old adage refers to, but I am confident that it was not killed by curiosity. Perhaps it died because of its unintelligent approach to finding out what it wanted to know. Perhaps, in its attempt to learn, it was unlucky, and…

Virginia came to me one night With a question in her eyes She asks important questions, Expecting frank replies. “Daddy,” she said, in a serious voice, Underscored by a thoughtful pause, “I want an honest answer. Is there a Santa Clause?” “My parents once told me there was, And their parents told them, too. And…

Did you ever find yourself wishing your children or parents were more like some other children or parents you’ve seen? We’re not supposed to think that way. We’re supposed to appreciate the people we’ve already got, and if we compare at all, our family is supposed to compare favorably. We’re supposed to feel lucky that…

I have lots of fond memories of my childhood. It was a pretty happy childhood. I loved the place where I grew up, a big house in the woods. I loved the neighborhood baseball games, the singing in the car, the trip to Yellowstone Park…I could go on and on. I learned, at a pretty…

We expect people to do the jobs they’re hired to do, and do them well. If we elect someone to political office and she/he doesn’t do the jobs involved the way we want them done, we try to get him/her to shape up, and if that doesn’t work, we elect someone else. We can’t all…

Children need to be heard. Caught up in the juggling acts of teaching, parenting, and/or myriads of other adult activities, we lose sight of that truth, or let it slip into a lower priority. From what I’ve seen and experienced, it’s often overshadowed by another truth: we adults need to be heard. It’s not something…