Recent Character Commentaries

Featured image for “April 13, 1970”
April 13, 1970
An explosion aboard Apollo 13 instantly transformed a routine mission into a fight for survival. With oxygen leaking into space and power systems failing, three astronauts were stranded more than 200,000 miles from Earth. At the center of that crisis stood mission commander Jim Lovell. There was no time for blame and no room for ego. Lovell focused on one...
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August 4, 2025
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“It Is Mine Alone”
I’ve been looking back at history for moments when leadership wasn’t just a word, it was a responsibility carried with humility and moral strength. It’s easy to talk about leadership when the outcome is victory. The harder truth—the one that defines real character—is how a leader responds when the stakes are high, and the outcome is uncertain. Dwight D. Eisenhower...
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August 1, 2025
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The Man Who Helped America Believe in Itself Again
The Great Depression didn’t begin with the crash of ’29. It started earlier—quietly, steadily—beneath the surface of a country convinced the good times would never end. By the start of that year, the warning signs were there. Farmers had been struggling for years, drowning in debt and falling prices. Coal miners were out of work or watching their wages shrink....
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July 28, 2025
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Waiting for Mr. Smith
It may seem obvious, but it couldn’t be more urgent: we need about a thousand Mr. Smiths in Washington right now. We need the idealism, yes, but we also need the pragmatism. We need leaders with the courage and character to stand up for what’s right. We need leaders who can turn vision into action and build a better, more...
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July 7, 2025
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The Sword of Damocles
Harvard University now stands at an ethical crossroads—not just for itself, but for every educational entity in the country. While I never attended Harvard, you don’t need a Harvard degree to see the deadly sword hanging over all of education. The moment universities start compromising their core values to appease an administration obsessed with control, they surrender more than autonomy—they...
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July 3, 2025
Featured image for “When Principle Meets Prejudice”
When Principle Meets Prejudice
As President Donald Trump celebrated the 250th anniversary of the U.S. military, one soldier was under attack. At Fort Drum, New York, Maj. Erica Vandal glanced at her phone. A message from her mother: “Just heard about the Supreme Court ruling. That totally stinks! How are you doing?” The court had just allowed Trump’s ban on transgender troops to take...
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June 25, 2025
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The Moral Voice in a Cardigan
Though I was much older than the audience for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, I did watch his testimony before a congressional subcommittee. I came away inspired by his plainspoken common sense, quiet reason, and the values he passed on—kindness, honesty, respect, and the importance of becoming a person of character. In a time when volume often substitutes for values, Fred Rogers...
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June 23, 2025
Featured image for “The Right Stuff, The Right Way”
The Right Stuff, The Right Way
“If there is one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that a man’s judgment is no better than his information.”—John Glenn In an age when celebrity often eclipses substance, John Glenn never needed a spotlight to define his worth. He had already flown faster than sound, orbited the Earth, and stared into the black unknown. But his real legacy...
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June 16, 2025
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The Call That May Never Have Happened—But Still Matters
It’s a story that’s made its way through online forums, Reddit threads, and grief support pages. No news articles. No official confirmation. And maybe that’s the point. The story goes like this: In 2020, while filming News of the World, Tom Hanks received a folded note from his assistant. A man named James Mallory, a retired teacher from Ohio, was...
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June 12, 2025
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In Union There is Strength
Former Defense Secretary and retired Marine Corps General James Mattis has something to say. I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us...
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June 11, 2025

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