Our second day on the road was like a dream. First, we were in Warrenton, Virginia, a charming town self-consciously holding onto the past, to the point of not having traffic lights downtown. Then we climbed west on the Lee Highway to Shenandoah National Park, hoping to take Skyline Drive south, but the higher we […]
Smart Phone Cameras
We cannot see without using our smart phones. Their cameras let us record and then share our experiences. But even as our audiences grow, the attention we get and the attention we give becomes progressively more superficial. Flit, flit, flit — only the stickiest of posts gets more than a glance. This, too, is how […]
The Eyes See
The eyes see but the mind does not. It was not until much later, looking closer at this photo, that I saw that all these flags are not blowing in the same direction. While a strong east wind blows most of them to the right, a strong west wind blows one to the left. Remarkable! […]
Targeting Civilians
Armed soldiers should not target unarmed civilians. That seems clear enough to me sitting thousands of miles from conflict, but those at war soon lose such clarity. For those at war, entire populations become the enemy. During World War II, the world condemned the Luftwaffe for bombing London and other cities in England, but then, […]
The Best Words
My wife’s dog waits at the front gate, her gaze fixed on the empty driveway, intently watching for the joyous moment when her mistress will return. Unlike her dog, my wife’s husband exhibits no such display of longing and devotion. He is not kneeling in prayer, again and again exhorting God to keep her safe […]
Fill Up On Bread
“Fill up on bread! If I heard that once, I heard it a thousand times.” That is what my father said when he remembered living in New York City, one of eleven children growing up in Hell’s Kitchen and the Lower East Side during the Great Depression. If I heard my father say that once, […]