Race

Shining a Light on Institutional Racism: My firsthand account

Photo by Sean Patrick Murphy on Unsplash

When most people think of racism, visions of terrorism delivered mano a mano come to mind. You know … slavery, white hoods, lynchings, and other acts of abject terrorism and the trauma they leave in their wake come to mind. Interpersonal racism’s more comely, yet equally damaging sibling:institutional racism is not only alive and well, but thriving in the most unlikely of places. The time has come to shine a light on a textbook example to provide a better understanding.

Faith

God Is Real (Despite the Awfulness of Humanity)

Image by Eidy Bambang Sunyaro, at unsplash.com

Things are tough. All over. A lot of people are hurting physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. All any of us need do is turn on the TV, log into social media, or if you’re really daring, step outside your front door and there it is: the awfulness of humanity. With this pervasive level of devastation, a friend of mine asked, as I’m sure many more of you have —

“If God is real, then why do things like [insert tragedy] happen?”

Christmas

The Plane: Memorializing a Show-stopping Moment and So Much More

A hefty Christmas tree ornament to commemorate a very special flight.

One of my favorite gifts is a rather weighty and sizable prop plane ornament, given to me ten years ago by Joey M., a then nine-year-old fellow actor in New York’s Radio City Christmas Spectacular. He bestowed me with this memento as a final gift during our annual Secret Santa gift exchange. He gave it to me as a reminder of a specific moment in the show, but it has come to symbolize a greater gift I was given by him and so many others. One I try to share as often as possible.

Race

How You’re Wasting Your Time Arguing with Angry People

Photo by taha ajmi on Unsplash

People who don’t listen aren’t interested in a conversation. What they want is to stand on their soapbox and give a lecture.

It seems with each passing day that it’s becoming more difficult for people with differing opinions to have reasonable discussions about those differences in opinion. Call me an optimist, but I do believe it’s still possible. The trick is to
have a strategy before you start the discussion. Otherwise, it’s way to easy for the conversation to dissolve into a real world version of “Clash of the Titans.”

The Bigger Picture

The Top 5 Worst Approaches to Managing Life’s Challenges

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
–Albert Einstein

Humans. We’re reactive by nature. Give me a puppy, a sweet potato pie, a lump of gold, or a month-long vacation in France, and I’ll give you a positive reaction every time. A boa constrictor, lima beans, a lump of coal in my Christmas stocking, or a fresh parking ticket will produce a reaction somewhere along the negative end of the emotional spectrum.