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Kindness
There’s a sign in someone’s yard on the route my wife and I regularly walk. It’s painted blue and red and proclaims in bold white letters: JUST BE KIND. I like that sign. And even though I don’t know the people who live in that house and made that sign, I like them too. Because anyone who goes through the trouble of making and posting a sign that says JUST BE KIND is probably the kind of people I want to be around. Kindness is contagious, after all. When we experience kindness or see kindness demonstrated, we’re more likely to go and do likewise. Kindness makes the world a better…
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An Election Reflection
CNN’s John King and Wolf Blitzer are doing the electoral college map as votes roll in while I write this. I’m not paying attention really. It’s just noise in the background. My wife is dozing off on the reclining sofa beside me. I realize my whiskey is empty and I need a refill. It’s already past my normal bedtime. I get up at 4 a.m. after all. It’s 9:28 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Election night in America. Probably the most important election of my lifetime. And maybe yours. Four years ago on Election night, our living room was crammed with students from the honors program where my wife…
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Why We Need Each Other Now More Than Ever: Christian Ethics in the Age of Coronavirus
The world’s changed dramatically, perhaps indefinitely. Similarly to how things were different after 9/11 or after the Great Recession of 2008, I suspect that life after the Coronavirus will always be a little different. I don’t mean that in an end-of-the-world apocalyptic sort of way. I don’t think the world’s ending. And I think — I hope and pray anyway — that most of us will come through this global pandemic. Tragically, there’s already been and will continue to be loss of life. I grieve for those families. But the scientists and health experts working on this seem to be assuring us that while some people are at significantly greater…
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The True King Revealed: Why Epiphany Is So Politically Subversive
In case you haven’t noticed, we’re living in an age of recurring political turmoil. Trump’s presidency — whether you love it or despise it — and the impeachment debacle are just the tips of the iceberg. There’s Brexit and the anti-Brexiters. There’s a concerning trend of growing nationalism and xenophobia not only here in the USA, but also across European nations like Germany and France. In the United States, anti-semitism is very openly resurging, along with other white supremacist demonstrations. Even if we’re charitable and assume that Trump himself is not anti-semitic or a racist, the fact that many people who are openly racist typically seem to believe that Trump…
A Blog by Sam Ochstein.