In a Perspective broadcast a seeming lifetime ago - last year - I offered up a suggestion to the opposition party, which is eternally, almost comically awful at branding and self-promotion. At the time I suggested the Democrats might consider  Competent Leadership  as a tag line for the time, readily acknowledging that it was not an exciting slogan, but one that could serve as potential antidote to the pervasive incompetence demonstrated by the president and his cabinet. After all, we were

When I was about five years old, a man named Grady French told me that I had once sleepwalked from my bedroom to downtown Mart, Texas. To be sure, this was only three blocks of soporific strolling, but it was still no mean feat. I have no memory of ever having done this. And I’m not even sure that Mr. French told me I had. Maybe I just dreamt the whole thing. This illustrates the problem with our childhood memories. I can recall almost nothing of my early childhood and little of my life when I

Hitler called the Jews subhuman disease-carrying rats. Words like these have been used throughout history to dehumanize groups and to make it acceptable to treat them like animals -- to eliminate them, to perform experiments on them, to kill them. Dehumanizing words are part of a demagogue’s tool chest. The goal is to convince the public it is OK to mistreat those other, lesser people. It’s tempting to look at the enormity of the Nazi holocaust, with the huge scale of the killing, as a one-time

The #MeToo movement created a swarm of energy and dialogue around the topic of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace. We saw powerful men like Harvey Weinstein, Al Franken, Dr. Larry Nassar, and Kevin Spacey finally face some consequences for their legacies of abusive and harassing behavior. The movement spread beyond social media into churches and mosques, workplaces and doctors’ offices, campuses and sports arenas. So many brave survivors, including male survivors, came

“Dad when are you coming to get me?” The father put the phone down, unable to speak. His sobs choked his voice. He sat in his one room house deep in Mexico after being separated from his daughter at the border and deported. We have all seen the photos by now. Children of all ages trying to sleep fully clothed in wire cages under aluminum foil. Some curled up in balls of terror. Others sobbing in the dark. Little ones crying out for their mother. This is who we are now as a country. We are a

T he United States, built upon principles of equality and pragmatism , champion s i dentities based on what people do --- not upon where they were born . Until recently, in older civilizations, the career q uestion “what are you going to b e when you grow up?” sounded strange for its equation of occupation with Being. You already were what you were. Yet i dentity by ethnic affiliation plays a large role here too , especially lately. T riba lism can be an enemy to justice, love for neighbor, and

Last month, an old friend reached out to discuss her fear that her husband was suffering from something she called, “Work Separation Anxiety.” Not only did he struggle with committing to take vacation days, he also had trouble taking time away for “life or death” absences such as loved ones’ funerals or his own hospital stay. I did some research and it turns out anxiety about missing work is pretty common. Regardless of age or gender, we take a healthy slice of our social and emotional identity

It seemed like all my friends were getting married and I was a lways a bridesmaid. I was on my way to graduate school. A family friend, Do rothy Harro gave me two gifts. The first was a set of Pfaltzgraff dishes that I still use today. She didn’t want me to feel left out with all these weddings . She said she was proud of me and my independence. The second was a day trip to go canoeing on Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks . We marveled at how mysterious a black line of rain looked. I must have

Independence Day approaches. We will celebrate not only our birth as a sovereign nation; we will renew also our commitment to the great social contract proclaimed in the Declaration. We define ourselves by our belief in equality, and our mutual pledge to respect the right to life, to liberty, and to pursue our own happiness. Most nations are defined by ethnicity, religion, or ancient historical place or culture. Not us. Americans define themselves by belief in an idea--the idea that the

My friend Bill is a caregiver -- every day -- because he lives with and loves the person he cares for. Every choice he makes must involve and revolve around the person he cares for. It’s important to understand that Bill also needs the person he monitors and nurtures. Love has tied a knot that binds them. Bill recently shared on Facebook a meditation from “Daily Comforts for Caregivers” by Pat Samples. Please listen: Sadness wells up at the strangest times. In a meeting, riding a bus, or