“Have you no sense of decency sir?” --Attorney Joseph Welch, 1954 You have to be of a certain age (old, like me) or a history geek (yup, that’s also me) to understand the momentousness of the question and accusation that Joseph Welch put to Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, on June 9th, 1954.  “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines decency as, “behavior that conforms to standards of morality or respectability.” To treat others with decency means we show respect for people, strangers, and neighbors alike, and that we strive to be honest in all of ou ..read more

“The summer night is like a perfection of thought.”    --Wallace Stevens, “The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm” Yes, I know it is still three weeks away and yes, I know some folks get really peeved when I name this time of year as the unofficial end of summer, but…. every late August the feelings for me are always the same. Maybe for you too.  We experience and want to offer gratitude to God for summer and all of the gifts it offers. We experience melancholy, at the passing of one season into another and all the gifts going away. Summer thanksgiving? For me that lis ..read more

“I have found that it is the small everyday deed of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”     --J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit It’s just a bicycle after all. Just a two wheeled conveyance, to get me from point A to point B and under my own power too.  It’s got two pedals, twenty-four gears, two jet black tires and sleek levers on the handlebars for shifting up or down. There’s a granny gear for a big hill and a speedy gear for when you get to fly like the wind down a long winding road. Throw in a water bottle or two and a spare tu ..read more

“It is a paradox of democratic politics that only those willing to walk away from power deserve to be entrusted with it in the first place.” –Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe Should I stay or should I go? That is the question all of us face as we age.  We’ve worked for many years in a career or calling and then the day comes when we just know it our is time to go. To retire. To find new work. To pursue new passions and pastimes. We realize that where once our body was young enough, agile enough, limber enough to do this or that, well…one day we just can’t do it anymore.  So, we adapt. We f ..read more

Life is a lot more interesting if you are interested in the people and the places around you. So, illuminate your little patch of ground, the people that you know, the things that you want to commemorate. Light them up with your art, with your music, with your writing, with whatever it is that you do.”              --Alan Moore, author “V for Vendetta” et al Lighten up. That was the wise advice my spiritual director gave me on one of my more downhearted, deadly serious, “chicken little the sky is falling” kind of days.  Can’t r ..read more

The American citizen soldiers…didn’t want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed. So, they fought, and won, and all of us, living and yet to be born, must be profoundly grateful.” --Stephen Ambrose, "D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of WWII" “I see the bodies, John, when I fall asleep and dream. It makes me afraid to close my eyes.” That’s what Jack told me when I visited him in the hospital several years ago, after he suffered a fall. He was in his late eighties then, with wisps of white hair atop his head, and sharp and clear blue eyes, which looked at me so intently, as I too ..read more

  “The body never lies.”            --Martha Graham, dancer, and choreographer I used to be able to leapfrog over parking meters in a single bound. I’m not kidding. Hope it doesn’t sound like I’m boasting. It’s just a weird physical ability I once had when I was young, and my body was too. When I was sixteen and playing high school football the coach had us do something called the “six-inch ab exercise.” Lie flat on your back. Arms at your side. Keep your legs together, then raise them up six inches off the ground and hold. HOLD! I ..read more

 "Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life."              --Rachel Carson, author, “Silent Spring” It’s called the Turdus migratorius. We know it better as the American Robin, a ubiquitous bird in this part of Creation, and oh so recognizable too, with its deep brick red chest, and its dark gray plumage, and its propensity for pulling up chubby worms out of the soil as we watch in fascination.  Many of us mark the return of spring when we see our first robin, though ..read more

"Blossom by blossom the spring begins."       --Algernon Charles Swinburne It has to come. It must come. It will come. It has come. Finally. Spring. At least for me. How about for you? Yes, I know that technically, meteorologically, spring began in these parts March 1st; or if you really want to split hares (!) spring began March 19th, more than a month ago when the earth’s equator aligned with the sun.   Others marked spring’s initiation on April 9th, the day of the Red Sox home opener, played in the friendly confines of Fenway Park. Bright blue skies and s ..read more

"Where flowers bloom so does hope." – Lady Bird Johnson I open up the blinds on my bedroom window and look out at the world. I was hoping for a better forecast when I went to bed last night, one more promising than the cloudy and cool conditions predicted for today.  It’s grey, overcast, not very spring like, not what I hoped, for my first ride of the new cycling season. That’s what I tell myself, chilly first day of April, a Monday, Easter Monday. Twelve days into spring. One day since Jesus rose up from the dead, but me? I’d like to stay down all day, thank you very much. Recline on my ..read more