On September 11, 2001 Glenn Winuk lost his life while rescuing people in the South tower of the World Trade Center. However, rather than follow the yearly memorials to those who died at the hands of terrorists, Jay Winuk, Glenn’s brother, along with fellow public relations executive David Paine chose to make the anniversary more, a lot more.  The two...

It’s curious to reflect on three moments in my life that are marked by the same question: Where were you when Kennedy died? As a high school freshman in New York, I was in the middle of learning some important but long forgotten piece of Algebra when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  Our teacher, Mr. Freeman, was called out of...

Former Washington Post columnist, teacher and good friend Colman McCarthy wrote the following eulogy about his friendship with Eunice Shriver. I thought it was well worth repeating. My friendship with Eunice Kennedy Shriver began in 1966, when I bumped into her — literally — during a pickup basketball game on her backyard court at the Timberlawn estate in Rockville. I had begun...

“You know that the liberal media elites and the Obama Democrats are hoping you will put this letter down right now and do nothing…” – Michael Steele Steele is the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and current chairman of the Republican National Committee. “‘Let’s play grown-up.’ When I was a child, that’s what we said when we ran out of things...

I’m including the entire text of President Obama’s speech from his Sunday (May 17) commencement address at the University of Notre Dame because I think it speaks volumes about his character. An acknowledged Christian, Mr. Obama supports both pro-choice and embryonic stem cell research.  He has also come out in opposition to gay marriage.  All three are among the most...

Doesn’t he know that movie stars belong in the tabloids… police arrested… D.U.I. photo on TMZ? What’s this, Ann Curry interviewing him in Darfur? Must be a movie shoot or something.  I turn up the volume. Watching the NBC Dateline story, I learn that Clooney has travelled to Darfur a number of times not only in his role as United Nations messenger of...

Heavy snow fell the night before the inauguration. On Friday, January 20, 1961, I sat in my seventh grade homeroom class while the teacher rolled in a black and white television and announced that we would all be watching history take place today.  (Me, I always liked a good excuse to watch TV.) What I was unprepared for was how...

Much of the time we tend to think of compassion in terms of the extraordinary moments, events which seem removed from our daily perspective. The Dalai Lama’s story of a Tibetan monk’s compassion towards his Chinese jailers is one example. However, not long ago, I experienced a simple, yet powerful example of everyday compassion. My neighbor, Sue Adams, is funny, wise...

On November 13, a 17-year-old grocery bagger, found a brown, canvas money bag in the bathroom of the supermarket where he works.  When he opened it, he found $10,000 in cash. According to McClatchy Newspapers, the bag was “Stuffed with 50- and hundred-dollar bills… the life savings of a Vancouver, Washington man who accidentally left it in the men’s bathroom at...

Working with the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life, and the help of pollster John Zogby, we put a three question, post-election survey into the field on November 5th and 6th: 1.  What one or two qualities do you think the country needs most from the new president? 2.  What one or two actions...