Our words don’t matter anymore. There once was a time when they did. Media reach was limited by its medium, be that print or electronic, but with the advent of social media and the omnipresent internet, something changed. Anybody’s thoughts…
Can you hear him now?
Throughout most of the 2000s, Americans grew accustomed to an ever-present ad campaign with the tagline, “Can you hear me now?” Actor-pitchman Paul Marcarelli showed up all over the place, boasting of the reach of Verizon Wireless service where other…
Why can’t we just ‘BE KIND NOW!!’?
Thanks to a kindness art campaign going on at our local elementary school this month, I have received multiple notes from my youngest child with a rainbow drawing and one simple command: “BE KIND NOW!!” These BE KIND notes came…
I’m a gun owner, and I believe drastic changes are needed now
I was given my first gun around age 10 to 12. It was a pellet rifle, which I still have today. My second gun was a 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun, a gift at about age 14, which I still have but only…
Humans in the hands of a silent God
Any more, as I hear about the bad and violent actions people take against other people, I shudder. I held onto a naivete about how “good” people — those who believe in God — were somehow better, that their relationship…
This school shooter is going viral for telling his story, but does it help or hurt?
Note: This article discusses attempted suicide, suicidal ideation and gun violence. In the life of a school shooter, what happens almost 20 years after the crime? On Feb. 9, 2004, 16-year-old Jon Romano left a suicide note at home before…
‘The moment we allow our hearts to go numb to the deaths of any children is the moment we shut down our humanity’
As someone whose ancestors immigrated to the United States from Lebanon, the faces of children suffering in the war in Israel remind me of my own children. The limp body of a 5-year-old girl being carried through the rubble, and…
More violence will not produce peace
I am concerned about the current war in Gaza, Israel and Palestine because I care about life, justice, truth and peace as a follower, ordained minister and pastor of a congregation of people whose faith and living are inspired by…
My heart and my mind are in conflict about Israel and Hamas
The unexpected Hamas incursion into Israel, and the resultant deaths that are yet occurring, bring to mind our own experience of 9/11. The rhetorical choices made after 9/11 included labeling the attackers as “terrorists” rather than “criminals,” designating 9/11 as…