Recent Compassion Commentaries

Featured image for “Healing America’s Pain”
Healing America’s Pain
(I’m healing up from my own pain from minor surgery. Returning Wednesday.) Much of the country is lost . . . painfully lost. Overwhelmed by suspicion and fear, a terrible ugliness pervades our times. Some feel so threatened by anyone who knocks on their door or comes up their driveway, that they answer with a gun. Chained to their own...
Read More
April 28, 2023
Featured image for ““What is essential is invisible to the eye.””
“What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Violence, upheaval throughout much of the world, what would Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi, the father of nonviolent resistance, say? This week marks the 75th anniversary of Gandhi’s death at the hands of an assassin on his way to a prayer service in Delhi. While Gandhi was an anti-colonialist who practiced and taught his followers non-violent resistance to deal with injustice, Gandhi...
Read More
February 3, 2023
Featured image for “Shortness of Breath”
Shortness of Breath
How much anger and rage do five police officers have to have to beat a man to death after being pulled over for a traffic stop? Watching and listening to Tyre Nichols’s plea for help during a police gang attack in Memphis, Tennessee, the most heart-wrenching moment came when Nichols called out to his mother, twice. Nichols’s death is another...
Read More
January 31, 2023
Featured image for “What Was Good About 2022”
What Was Good About 2022
Two Scientific Milestones – With the increasing threat of global warming the news that scientists were able to successfully create nuclear fusion that would produce more energy than it would cost is a remarkable breakthrough. “Scientists studying fusion energy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California announced on Tuesday that they had crossed a long-awaited milestone in reproducing the power...
Read More
January 3, 2023
Featured image for “Hurricane Ian Reminds Us of All That is Good”
Hurricane Ian Reminds Us of All That is Good
Attending a Padres/Dodgers game in San Diego, I’m sitting next to a die-hard Padres fan. Despite my lifelong Dodger fever, we shared laughs, baseball stories and favorite teams: he loved the Yankees; I loved the Red Sox. What makes baseball so compelling is that while both sides want to win, they play on the same field, follow the same rules,...
Read More
September 30, 2022
Featured image for “The Man Who Made America’s Spirit Come to Life”
The Man Who Made America’s Spirit Come to Life
Of all the books written by historian David McCullough the book I return to is a compilation of his speeches. The American Spirit offers exactly what its title implies and at this moment, we need a big dose of that spirit more than ever. In a speech to Dartmouth College in 1999, McCullough draws inspiration from a line in the...
Read More
September 6, 2022
Featured image for “Clayton Kershaw, Hall of Fame Pitcher, 1st Class Role Model”
Clayton Kershaw, Hall of Fame Pitcher, 1st Class Role Model
Just when you think cynicism has become the default setting in much of America today a story comes along that reminds us of our humanity. Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw—who, last week, came within 6 outs of a perfect game—was answering questions at a press conference for major league baseball’s All-Star game when a member of the media pointed to 10-year-old...
Read More
July 22, 2022
Featured image for “Who We Really Are And Can Be, Again”
Who We Really Are And Can Be, Again
SPECIAL EDITION – HOW PRESIDENT BIDEN CAN INSPIRE ALL OF US, TONIGHT. The New York Times asked four columnists to offer their own State of the Union speech. Columnist David Brooks’s words are the most honest, credible, humble, forward-thinking, and inspiring I’ve heard in years! Here’s what Brooks believes Biden should say, tonight. My fellow Americans: “People always talk about...
Read More
March 1, 2022
Featured image for “Something We All Need”
Something We All Need
In it’s February 28th edition, TIME magazine highlighted “19 Kids Changing the World.” On the cover, Kid of the Year, eleven-year-old Orion Jean, “Ambassador for Kindness.” Academy Award-winning actor and special envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees recently interviewed Jean. Here are some highlights from the conversation. “When the pandemic began,” Orion began, “I saw a lot of...
Read More
March 1, 2022
Featured image for “The Liberal Republican”
The Liberal Republican
Sometimes, those who have contributed mightily to their country slip below history’s radar. John Gilbert Winant was one of them. After serving two terms as the Republican Governor of New Hampshire, Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt tapped Winant to be the first head of the Social Security Board. While Republican colleagues called him “a Republican New Dealer,” Winant’s work so impressed...
Read More
February 18, 2022