Yesterday I read this article in the Atlantic by David Brooks describing why half of the country not only tolerates Trump (and what he is doing), but actually see him as heroic and a good…
Browsing Category Thoughts On Current Events
Us and Them – Part 3: Them
Humans are tribal creatures and we are all members of various “tribes”. I found this series of essays on the topic to be very enlightening. Tribalism is not inherently bad Tribalism is a double edge…
Us and Them – Part 2: Us
Tribalism Humans are tribal and most of us belong to one or more tribes. Historically, these tribes were heavily influenced by family, location, and religion, and there often were not a lot of options for…
Us and Them – Part 1: And after all we’re only ordinary men
In 1976 I bought The Dark Side of the Moon album, played it to death, and decided that Pink Floyd was my favorite group of all time. Almost 50 years later, that hasn’t changed. But…
What if all our beliefs are wrong? How would we know, and would we even care?
We all have beliefs, and most of us are pretty sure that our beliefs are correct (and that any belief others have that differs from mine is wrong). Beliefs are energy-saving shortcuts that allow us…
I spoke at a community event about homelessness
I was invited to speak on Jan 23, 2025 at a community event in Shoreline, WA on the topic of homelessness, with the goal of raising support for Camp United We Stand (a county sanctioned…
Homelessness – Part 8: Ways in which we are supporting the homeless
Sunday Morning Shared Breakfast at the First Methodist Church I don’t recall exactly how we became involved with the Sunday morning shared breakfast at the First Methodist Church (also called First Church as it was…
Homelessness – Part 6: Should we help the homeless?
Do we have a duty to help the homeless? This is obviously a matter of opinion – if you don’t think that your money or effort should go towards helping the homeless, I doubt that…
Homelessness – Part 5: Causes of homelessness
For this post I can rehash statistics and talking points, but that would be boring. Camp United We Stand is a county sanctioned homeless camp that rotates between church parking lots every three months –…
Homelessness – Part 4: Why does Seattle have such a big homeless population?
Seattle ranks 18th in terms of population (755, 078) within the US, but it has the 3rd biggest homeless population (16,385). Chicago ranks 3rd in terms of US population (2,664,452), but ranks 13th in terms…