Sportsmanship – fair and generous behavior and treatment of others – has been as important an aspect of my participation in athletic competition as an athlete and as a spectator as any other aspect of the game. In fact, good sportsmanship supersedes every other feature of the game in any sport and at any level. …
Category Archives: Awe and Wonder
Love of Country
Fifty-one years ago – nearly to the day – I read Leon Uris’s novel of Berlin in the aftermath of WWII, Armageddon. I still retain that first edition though the dustcover no longer exists. I read the book over a weekend in the spring of my senior year at the United States Air Force Academy. …
Wildness
Nearly 200 years ago, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” In his essay “Walking,” Thoreau encourages people to be ‘wild,’ which he likens to ‘absolute freedom’ in contrast to ‘limited freedom,’ which we all experience 24/7 in civil culture. My longtime and perennial friend Dwight and I experienced ‘wildness’ …
First Day of the Barefoot School
After months of study, research and planning, I am pleased to announce that our friends at the Guepard Boxing Club in Cité Soleil opened the Barefoot School this week. While we still have much work to do, we are very grateful to the families and individuals who have opened their hearts and purses to help …
Unconditional Healthcare
unconditional Jesus and the leper
Time Does Not Stand Still
One year ago as we entered the 11th year publishing this website, I wrote, “In 2021, we hope to corral the pandemic and turn our backs on the cultural and political discord that threatens to destroy the goodness that is inherent in each of us.” Alas, as a race, society, and culture, we failed on …
Clarence Oddbody on Each Man’s Life
Originally posted 12/20/2011… As Tom Shadyac professes in his film “I AM:” We are all connected. Each person on this planet is connected to every other man, woman and child, and it goes deeper still … all of creation is connected. Our connectivity mandates that we make good choices because even the least of our …
A Toy Story
As the Polar Express steams by Herpolsheimer’s department store – the England Brothers of my youth in Pittsfield, Massachusetts – the kids on the train stare in wonder at the store’s window displays filled with magical Christmas visions. “I want them all,” the ‘know-it-all kid exclaims referring to the abundance of extraordinary gifts and toys. …
Shoes
In America, we take many things for granted. In recent years, our sense of entitlement knows no bounds. About a year ago, my friend Justin posted this picture of four homeless Haitian boys sleeping on the streets in Cité Soleil with this commentary… “…are they the ones who make the choice to live like this?… …
Merry Christmas
Originally posted in 2020, I believe this is worth re-posting. Merry Christmas 2021. I believe that Jesus has influenced and continues to influence more human beings than any person who has ever walked the Earth. His message of unconditional love and forgiveness was and is plain and simple. That is how he lived, simply: he …