To say that Oprah Winfrey is a force is not to overstate the obvious. Known simply as, Oprah, she is, among other things, an actress, producer, talk-show host, business woman, and philanthropist. But she has become much more than that. Actually, that is precisely where Oprah’s particular excellence lies: inspiring others to become more in their own lives. In fact, the logline in the...

Whenever we get fussed-up by the trials, tribulations, wants, needs, hopes, dreams, frustrations, tragedies, challenges, the President, Congress, Fox News, MSNBC, (fill in your own blank), not to mention our own egos, we should all take a moment to step back and get a little perspective. The following poem comes from my own ethics teacher, Michael Josephson, who offers some...

Last January, Megan, one of my New Hampshire students, responded to the question, “who is the most ethical person you know?” with this essay about a neighborhood mom named Pat. When most people think of an ethical person they think of Mother Teresa, Mohandas Gandhi or Jimmy Carter. They all did great things in their lifetime, which is why people...

This is a story about discrimination and the possibility of change. Next month, the National Council of The Boy Scouts of America will vote on an issue that has deeply divided the Scouts for decades. The Scouts announced early this month, a split-the-baby approach allowing openly gay boys to become members. If the proposal is accepted by a majority of...

Scandal or not? You decide. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the front page of Saturday’s (Apr. 6) Wall Street Journal to learn that that noble organization, The Girl Scouts of America – an organization known for building “girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place,” is under siege from two states that collect taxes...

“He was the very, very first to come and apologize to me. For a private citizen to come along and say, ‘I’m the one that attacked you; I’m the one who beat you,’ it was very meaningful…. His story and the way he arrived at his position must be understood, must be told.” That was civil-rights leader and Georgia Representative John...

Our greatest influences come from those closest to us. Here is a story that speaks, not only of the influence a parent can have on a child, but to a community as well. “In my thirty-three years of life, I can say that I have always had this one constant in my life leading me in the right direction and...

The recent controversy over scenes of torture in Zero Dark Thirty, a film dramatizing the hunt for terrorist Osama bin Laden, caused me to revisit a student paper from Steve Ambra’sContemporary Ethical Issues class. The student, a former U.S. soldier deployed to Iraq, reminded me of just some of the many ethical issues faced by our military in combat situations. “I joined the military at...

Students displayed a wide range of topics during final presentations in this year’s Contemporary Ethical Issues class at the New Hampshire Technical Institute. Among the issues selected: capital punishment, patient confidentiality, stealing, bullying, and assisted suicide. Sports ethics offered two students as media commentators interviewing three individuals caught in cheating scandals. Three students created a debate on gun control between a representative...

Earl J. Hickey is a shiftless, ne’er-do-well, who, after a near-fatal accident, sees the burning bush of Karma and wants to lead a better life, or as one NHTI student so eloquently summarizes: “If you give crap, you will get crap in return.” In the part comedy-part philosophy series, My Name is Earl, Hickey sets out to reform his ways by...