Silence
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Silence

I’ve long felt that the Christmas season begins too early and ends too soon. This is not a religious complaint. It’s a commercial complaint. In the consumer culture of the United States, Christmas decorations appear in drug stores and grocery markets before Halloween. By mid-October, I feel inundated with red and green paper, images of…

Gratitude
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Gratitude

The American holiday of Thanksgiving kicks off a season where a spirit of gratitude pervades society. From the media to faith communities, the notion of thankfulness abounds. I’ve always found it problematic that the value of gratitude is so closely tied to an American myth of cooperation that was really about genocide. Most school children…

Not At War
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Not At War

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but I’ll never forget what you said.” That’s the truer version of the playground retort bullied children are supposed to use when maliciously teased. Although the original – “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” – can be quickly rolled off the…

Inertia
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Inertia

  Physics was my most difficult class in high school. Every time the teacher posed a question and asked the class for an answer, I got it wrong. I did the equations and exercises and pushed around those little wooden carts, and still never really got it. Even though I didn’t get a good grade,…

Sin?
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Sin?

      I like to do crosswords puzzles in free moments. I was in trouble when I discovered the iPod/ iPhone app. I wish I could say I do them because of the new research that indicates that mental games like crosswords and Sudoku stave off Alzheimer’s disease. I’m not that forward-looking. I find…

Walk With Me
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Walk With Me

  One of America’s protective freedoms lies in the principle of “the separation of church and state.” My friends who are legal scholars tell me that the provision was initially made to protect churches from the government. This “freedom of religion” means that the government will not persecute anyone for practicing her faith. It also…