A growing number of Americans are horrified by the recent spate of violent events related to race over the last few years. To me it’s like a watching a bad reality show entitled, “America in Retrograde.” If only the state of our union was just a TV show, I imagine lots of viewers would be scrambling for their remotes.
Author: Clay Rivers
Author & optimist. Editor, Our Human Family. Writing about equality, racism, and faith. "Embrace all that you are and strive to become all that God created you to be.”
The Wonder and Terror of Writing a Popular Post
"The Scream of Nature" by Edvard Much, 1893.
Something wonderful and terrifying is happening for me right now over at Medium.com. A post I wrote last summer in which I poured my heart out to friends (How I Talk To White People About Racism) has been experiencing a resurgence over the last couple of days and is connecting with readers. A lot of readers. Hundreds of readers. In a crazy way.
You’ll Only Change When You’re Ready, Part 2 — or Flow with the Go
flickr photo by Northwest Rafting Company https://flickr.com/photos/nwrafting/3845473033 shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
After enduring battle fatigue and failed efforts at getting my way, the last and most important precursor to accepting a new way of handling the challenges I faced was opening my mind to the notion that such a thing even existed. I needed something larger than my problems and more capable than myself at arriving at the right solutions. This is where my faith entered the picture.
You’ll Only Change When You’re Ready, Part 1
Most of us are creatures of habit and we make our most comfortable, most familiar decisions out of routine. It doesn’t matter if the decision carries intrinsic benefits or drawbacks; as long as the decision is tried and true and and can be found within our comfort zone, there’s a high probability we’ll opt for it. Every time.
Don’t believe me?
To You Whose Life Has Been Ravaged by Cancer
To You Whose Life Has Been Ravaged by Cancer,
I read a searing article on Salon.com by Sarah Beth Lowe today that gave me greater insight into the horror that is the disease known as cancer. While reading it I thought back to a visit over coffee I had with an old friend who went through breast cancer. Thanks to Providence, circumstance, and/or fortitude she survived her ordeal, but cancer claimed one of her breasts before all was said and done.
Letter No. 12: A Love Story Not in the Making
Hey Clay,
Mine is an issue that has plagued women for years: how do you gently let down a man who fights the “letting down” process with every fiber of his being?
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends
Old typewriter http://barnimages.com/
After reading the hundreds of birthday wishes you guys left on my Facebook wall last week in honor of my fifty-fifth birthday, I felt very much like George Bailey at the end of the Christmas classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Thanks you guys for taking the time to stop by my page to post succinct “happy birthday” greetings, animated GIFs, videos, artwork, and a few pictures from back in the day when I had a much smaller waist and a lot more hair.
The Novelty Effect (or Little People, Big Problems)
Everybody’s got something that they simply can not put up with.
Some people can’t ride elevators. A friend of mine will visit anyone in the hospital and traverse numerous stairwells to visit the bedridden, as long as they’re on a single digit floor. If you’re on your death-bed in a hospital above the ninth floor, you’d better make sure you’re all prayed up and have dispensed your last goodbye to that particular angel of mercy because she’s not taking an elevator or climbing up ten flights of stairs to wish you auf wieder-bye-bye.
What the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster Taught Me About Facing Challenges
I can tell you exactly where I was thirty years ago today with absolute certainty. January 28, 1986, at about 11:30 a.m., I was giving autographs and taking photographs with tourists in front of the Train Station at the entrance to the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom in Florida. The air felt unusually cold that against my legs, but the rest of me felt toasty warm thanks to the Donald Duck costume I wore. The two pairs of yellow-orange duck tights afforded my legs no protection from the unusual cold snap that gripped the state.
Book Review: 3 Things I Know
By Tracey Jackson, author of the New York Times bestseller, Gratitude and Trust
Author, actor, designer and motivational speaker Clay Rivers has recently published his third book.
It’s called 3 Things I Know – Facing and Embracing Life’s Challenges.
There is no question we all face challenges, but for most of us, if we are lucky they come and go, ebb and flow. But Clay was born with several challenges that he has walks gallantly through life with.