On this day in 1890, legendary Lakota Indian Chief Sitting Bull was gunned down by Indian Agency Police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. No one remembers. Earlier this year, ‘Standing Rock’ was front page news. Many of you raised your concerned voices. Six months later, most remember few details. I remember, and I remember …
Author Archives: tVM
Dog, the Great Teacher
I believe dog is the perfect creature. The original subtitle for my novella The Sixth Day was “The day God should have quit,” my conviction being that God should have stopped creating after he made the dog. Moving forward, I altered the marketing phrase to “The day God almost quit,” the thought being that the …
Around the World in 6 Years, 9 months and 4 Days
I have been looking forward to this post for quite some time …. One thing I learned from six years of intense caregiving is that I cannot and should not expect other people to live their lives the way I choose to live mine. While I used to get po’d at the way people choose …
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Caesar Joins His Band of Angels
With more good friends in my lifetime than any 10 men deserve, Caesar was my best. This morning, I freed his spirit from his cancer-riddled body. Unwittingly at the time, I cast his memory into future generations by including him in two of my novels. When people ask me which of my books I like …
Letter from Birmingham Jail
Some things are not meant to be forgotten. Fifty-three years ago on this day, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. penned his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The letter is one of those things that must remain an important part of human thought. Five years ago, we first posted a piece that speaks to the heart of …
Mitakuye Oyasin
Those of you who regularly follow this website know that one of my favorite expressions is “Mitakuye Oyasin.” I learned it many years ago. As a Buddhist or Hindu might greet you with “Namaste,” “I salute the God within you,” the Sioux Indian would say, “Mitakuye Oyasin,” which means “We are all family.” As I walk …
Day Five in Haiti: Nicole’s Place
Late in 2003, Gail Rongen’s daughter Nicole Megaloudis’s name appeared on the list of potential women who would represent Greece in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. Her dreams went unrealized when she died in a car accident as she returned to the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) campus late one night for an early …
Grandfather
A tree is the perfect presence. The tree teaches us how to journey.” John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes “Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your children in every leaf and every stone.” Chief Yellow Lark
Around the World in Seven Years
Goals have been important to me since I was a young boy. When I set a goal, I work hard to achieve it and I remain focused upon it. In May 2009, I began riding a bicycle for the first time since I was a young teenager. When Mrs. tVM and I returned to the …
Our Greatest Blunder
Redemptorist priest Pat Hawk spent his last day on earth three years ago in 2012. He was a quiet, contemplative man. Although I did not know him well, I did attend several of his open ‘pathless path’ sessions at the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Picture Rocks. Father Hawk was a Roshi, a highly venerated senior …