A New Approach to Serving Others
Today, I hear my husband explain a new way to care for folks in our community. He says that we do things “with” people and not “for” them. As a scholar obsessed with the nuances of language, I find myself baffled by how a simple change in a preposition revolutionizes how we act. Prepositions reveal […]
Secret Agent Life
This morning, I read about how a businessman responds to a doctor’s order to go to a train station and “look for someone who needs help.” The doctor believed that if the businessman practiced doing something for another person every day, that man would begin to feel better about his life. He did. It worked. […]
Make Yourself That Somebody
For months, my friend and I travel by this one treacherous patch of sidewalk on our walk to school–the place that dips down towards a jagged ravine of rocks and icy water–and say, “Somebody should really put a fence up.” We rescue kids as they slide off the sidewalk, shake our heads and say again, […]
The Next Step
My one-eyed cat, Jack, has taken another important step. Remember how wounded and sick Jack was? How unattractive and miserable? We brought him home and gave him all the love we could. He’d lost his ability to purr. He couldn’t even meow. His whole kitty identity seemed withered and dying. Then one day, he […]
Flabbergasted! (A Student Laments Being Over-Scheduled)
Yesterday I had lunch with a college student who looks back on her grade school years with a certain regret. She won awards in three different sports, had a full schedule of activities, made great grades, and got into a wonderful college. She’s a triathlete. She’s a straight A student. I look at that life […]
A Strange Way to Refresh Yourself
I’m used to thinking of personal refreshment in terms of spa days and vacations. Today, I remembered a bit of wisdom that reoriented my thinking. The flair moment came in the form of sweaty boys and mulch. On my drive downtown this morning, I saw a group of young men spreading mulch in the flowerbeds […]