I encountered this pig on the streets of Cité Soleil, Haiti in March 2016. I’ve been thinking about him – or her – a lot lately. I am certain he is happier rummaging on this garbage-strewn beach than the millions of pigs raised on industrial farms in a space no larger than a refrigerator. I […]
Category Archives: Mind
Anthropause
I learned two new words in 2020, anthropause and Anthropocene. Coined by a group of international researchers in a paper they collaboratively wrote in June 2020, anthropause means “a considerable global slowing of modern human activities, notably travel.” This is how this group of researchers characterize the international lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19. […]
As the New Year Dawns
In 2021 – our 11th year – 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. It is in our DNA to do the right thing. We were born in original goodness. To turn our […]
Christmas Eve 1968
I was reminded this morning that on Christmas Eve in 1968, the Apollo 8 spacecraft with astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders entered orbit around the moon. They were the first humans to orbit a celestial body other than Earth. They were asked to send a Christmas Eve broadcast to Earth and advised […]
Christmas at Heart
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 loved unconditionally and forgave without questions. That is the example he set. That […]
The Faith of Job Garden
I have an idea. I call it the Faith of Job Garden… My objective is to re-ignite the direct-giving program my friends and I created in 2017 and operated through 2018 to support the Guepard Boxing Club in Cité Soleil [GBCCS]. During that time, we fed upwards of 300 Haitian children, three days each week. […]
The Armor for Old Age
Mrs. tVM has traveled for nearly three weeks in September. She returns this evening. In her absence, Clarence and I have kept our minds, bodies, and spirits active. Still, as another year on Earth comes to an end, one wonders how many are left. I thought about that this morning, and as I did, I remembered […]
You Got Faith?
I have come to define faith this way: Faith is the knowledge that something exists or something is true without proof, or that an event will occur in the absence of reason and logic. There is great strength in faith. It is one of the core messages in my 2012 novella The Sixth Day, and […]
Combatting the Litterbug
As I rode my bike early this morning, I asked myself, “What can I do today to make the world a better place to be?” As contemplative monk, Thomas Merton writes, “God makes us ask ourselves questions most often when He intends to resolve them.” True to form, the answer came in the 14th mile. […]
Solidarity Is Essential
“Spoiler Alert:” at over 1,000 words, this is one of the longer posts we’ve written. “Click” the arrows to open comments. Though disheartened when I learned that Goodyear listed “All Lives Matter” as unacceptable as part of its zero-tolerance policy, I take strength that others do believe that all lives matter and consider it a […]