Category: Society
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Free Play
There are many trends in our society that I find disturbing. I am horrified by the rise of authoritarianism in the United States. I am also very concerned by the extent to which ideological differences seem to be preventing real conversations between people. I’m sure that I’m going to be writing more about each of…
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Social Media
We live in a world where some things change quickly while other things change more slowly. Technology tends to change more quickly than our social constructs. Social media provides a good example of this. In his book Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg points out that we’ve only been communicating online since the early 1980’s. It’s no wonder…
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Identity
It’s possible that I could write an entire book on this topic. While in college, I took a class called Modernity and Identity. I thought about the topic before this. Afterward, I thought about it even more. One of my favorite songs from the musical Les Miserables is “Who Am I?” While singing this song,…
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Fear
Yesterday, I talked about the Unknown. Often, we are afraid of the Unknown. But it’s not just the Unknown that inspires fear in our lives. Fear is a useful emotion. It serves an evolutionary purpose. From a young age, we learn about things that can harm us. Fear attempts to keep us safe. If you…
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The Unknown
We all tend to fear the unknown. I remember the first time I was in a lightning storm as a kid. It got very dark, and the rain got heavy. It seemed to happen fairly suddenly while I was walking home from school all alone. I was cold and getting wetter by the minute. I…
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“Not worth living”
A priest gave a homily during a funeral service today. He talked about the large number of people committing suicide daily. And he said that he agreed with them. He said, “With all of the suffering in this world, life is not worth living.” I found this repeated remark of his to be inappropriate and…
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Being vs. Doing
I like to accomplish stuff. I sometimes worry about living up to my potential. A lot of my self-worth is tied up with DOING things. In high school and college, I got good at solving math and physics problems. I got good at playing piano and performing in plays. I got a master’s degree in…
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Humans are Multifaceted
Although we may become known for just one thing, we are not just one thing. None of us are. Even the people who spend most of their hours doing just one thing are multifaceted. I am a father, a son, a brother, and a husband. I’m a teacher, a student, a leader, and a follower.…
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Small Differences
Humans are sensitive to small differences. We really don’t need too many material things to live. We need food, water, and clean air to breathe. We’re the same in that we all need these things. Nevertheless, we don’t always focus on our sameness. We tend to care about how we appear to be doing compared…