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
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
An Idea for Our Immigration Problem
Policies that address multiple problems in a positive way are seldom executed. But there may be a way to approach three serious issues in a way that benefits everyone. It is widely reported than more than 100,000 people crossed our southern border illegally in the month of March 2019. We are not prepared for this…Read More
Our National Anthem
I’m sitting in a crowded gym with parents, grandparents, cheerleaders, students, and others. My interest is a handsome young man with long, curly hair, killer blue eyes that warm his grandmother’s heart, and a pretty good follow-through that reminds me of his father. He’s my grandson. Directly in front of me a large American flag…Read More
They Come in Search of a Better Life
Sometime in middle part of the nineteenth century a skinny young man named McMahan crammed himself into a famine ship in Northern Ireland. In the course of the following days his body was ravaged further by the hunger he fled. His life was threatened by typhus and dysentery. Many fellow travelers died at his side….Read More
Filter of Hope
I am sitting at my desk with a glass of cold water nearby. My doctor tells me to “stay hydrated,” and I’m on it. But did you know that nearly 800 million people have little or no access to clean drinking water? This is especially true in very poor countries like Haiti. My granddaughter, Morgan Bryant, has made many…Read More
Why Can’t We Carry Each Other?
Shelly Springfield sings a song entitled “Why Can’t We Carry Each Other?” I like the song, but the answer to the question might surprise you. It certainly makes sense that we want to carry each other. Most of us are naturally inclined to care about and for one another. From birth we are taught by…Read More
Standing Up for America
On September 5, 1967, I stood straight and tall in a large auditorium on Fort Sill, Oklahoma with more than one hundred men in my Army OCS class. We raised our right hands and swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We were given our…Read More
My Op-Ed at the Gaston Gazette: Monuments Only Have the Power We Convey to Them
My op-ed on monuments was recently published at the Gaston Gazette: If you are white and you grew up in the South like me, it is quite possible that you have good friends whose skin is darker than yours. For me they are James, Brenda, Jay, Stacie, Kirsten, Mel, Stephanie, Michael, Ty, Bernard, Paulette, Oyobode,…Read More
My Books
