Martin
St. Martin of Tours was born in 316 AD in what is now Hungary. Though we do not know the day of Martin’s birth, we do know the year and the location. These metrics are important because they put him in the time and place of the Roman Empire. We also know that Martin was…Read More
Our World is in Trouble; First We Need to Fix Ourselves
This column was originally published in the Gaston Gazette, 11/14/21. We have been business friends for two decades. I like to think we are more deeply connected. He is a good person, though our backgrounds and perspectives are vastly different. He does not wear socks. I try to think of him as a young man,…Read More
The Richest Man in Babylon
Much has been written about the concentration of wealth in America. As we move closer to the fall elections, the wealth gap is likely to gain even more attention. In a January 2019 Yahoo article titled, “Top One Percent Own 50% of Stocks,” financial reporter Heidi Chung said the wealthiest people in America own half…Read More
The Color of Our Skin
My wife Carla shares a story of when she was a little girl of about four years old. Her mother took her to a store in the big city of Gastonia. I’m assuming it was Kress’s Dime Store on Main Street. There Carla was permitted to select her first baby doll. I can see her…Read More
A New Beginning
According to the National Forest Service, in every forest fire there is an element of new beginning. Certain species of pine trees develop very thick, nearly fire-retardant bark that protects the living tissue of their trunks. Lower limbs drop off over time, making it less possible for fire to climb to the more vulnerable tops…Read More
Presidential Standards
When our republic was formed, it was determined that the states would elect representatives to a national convention, and the representatives, as delegates from the states, would elect a chief executive to be called “president.” Our first president was George Washington, hero commander of the Continental Army that defeated Great Britain in the Revolutionary War….Read More
What We Can Learn From The Epiphany
Like many in our community, I was raised Baptist. In my case, it was worse. My father was a Baptist preacher for more than fifty years. As a young child, I was a Royal Ambassador, proficient in Bible drills. I could quote many important passages of scripture from the King James Bible. I earned Sunday…Read More
Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 2016 my wife and I were visiting the Pearl Harbor Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii for the second time. We had been to the museum during my Army R&R in May 1969 when I was nine months into my combat tour in Vietnam. On both occasions we spent time at the USS Arizona…Read More
What I Am Thankful For
Note from Author: This was written for Thanksgiving, 2018. What could be more cliché or grammatically incorrect than to ask, on Thanksgiving Day, “What are you thankful for?” I had four years of Latin in high school and an exceptional English teacher. Ending a sentence with a preposition was strictly forbidden in both disciplines, and…Read More
My Books
