On the eve of this year’s American Memorial Day, I have a few thoughts to pass along for anyone inclined to celebrate. In my own efforts at showing love by listening for the most accurate understanding I can possibly give, I hear what amounts to a near consensus (among my fellow Americans) of concerns, make that complaints, about the issue of responsibility. People who identify as conservative seem highly concerned about the lack of personal responsibility here in our land. This is...

On the eve of this year’s American Memorial Day, I have a few thoughts to pass along for anyone inclined to celebrate. In my own efforts at showing love by listening for the most accurate understanding I can possibly give, I hear what amounts to a near consensus (in today’s America) of concerns, make that complaints, about the issue of responsibility. People who identify as conservative seem highly concerned about the lack of personal responsibility here in our land. This is...

So this is why we can’t have nice things. Whenever I hear words to this effect, the context is the same. Something has been broken. And the one who didn’t do it but knows who did has something to say about it. To the one who did it. In no uncertain terms. As if to say “don’t ask me for nice things ever again if you’re going to just turn around and break them after I buy them for you.” This feels to me similar to our context as people of today’s world. We’re not at peace, we’re at...