His kids
Two teenage Chinese brothers are living with us as they attend school in the US. Since we have three biological sons, my wife and I call Dongyao and Dongpeng our “Chinese sons.” They have loving parents in China, but we’re also striving to love them well. We now have five kids!
search for significance
I have to admit, with some shame, that I’ve Googled my own name. I know, I know—it’s immature and narcissistic. I think I—and others like me—do this because we want some living proof that we’re significant and important in some way.
stuff of legends
The 2012 film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit tells the story of a band of dwarves seeking to recapture their lost mountain kingdom from an evil dragon.
no more prejudice
Many years ago, it was assumed that women could not play the French horn better than men. Their thoughts were challenged and disproved, however, when Julie Landsman auditioned for the role of principal French horn for the renowned Metropolitan Opera. During her audition, Landsman sat and played behind a screen—and played beautifully. After being declared the winner of the lead chair based on sound alone, she stepped out from behind the screen. The judges gasped! They didn’t expect to see a woman.
in the beginning
In the movie, The Sound of Music, Sister Maria sings: “Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. When you read, you begin with A-B-C. When you sing, you begin with do-re-mi.” Where do we begin in understanding what life is all about? Genesis, the book of beginnings, provides the answer.
don’t be evil
How does a cute, little baby grow up to become the face of evil? How does an Austrian boy become Adolf Hitler or a son of privilege turn into Osama bin Laden? And what makes one group of people slaughter members of a neighboring group? How could they possibly think that was a good idea?
a baby’s cry
Recently, one state in the US instituted a law requiring each pregnant woman considering an abortion to watch a sonogram of her unborn child, receive medically accurate explanations of what she views, and listen to her baby’s heartbeat. Following the law’s passage, a blogger who supports abortion raised money and bought iPods for abortion clinics. Her purpose? To provide each patient with a way to drown out the sound of her baby’s heartbeat. By cranking up the volume, she can stifle the sounds of life within her.
arrogance and ingratitude
Fabiola Gianotti led one of two teams that discovered the Higgs boson, the most exciting feat of modern physics. Her team used a $10 billion particle accelerator to crash protons into each other at nearly the speed of light. When they sifted through the microscopic debris, they found evidence of an energy field, which apparently permeates the universe. As other forms of energy pass through this “Higgs field,” much like an airplane pushes through a stiff headwind, the Higgs bosons attach themselves to these particles of energy and give them mass. And that’s how every physical thing gets its body.
mirror, mirror
When it comes to physical appearance, we’re constantly bombarded with advice. And truth be told, the suggestions found on magazine covers, in TV commercials, and voiced by store clerks—among other sources—bother me. They’re all trying to nudge me to pursue that perfect look.
work
The first thing you notice are the nets. They stretch tautly between buildings, hung to catch workers who might attempt to leap to their deaths. This is Foxconn, the behemoth factory in Shenzhen, China, where throngs of young Chinese manufacture iPads, iPhones, and computers for the world. As the nets attest, the job isn’t always fulfilling.
mother robin
Thousands of Indonesian women refer to Robin Lim as “Mother Robin” because she helped them through pregnancy and childbirth. Without her care and access to the clinics she established, the women wouldn’t have been able to afford the care they needed. Lim says, “Every baby’s first breath on Earth could be one of peace and love. Every mother should be healthy and strong. Every birth could be safe and loving. But our world isn’t there yet.”
murderous intent
At its best, anger alerts us to injustice. At its worst, anger becomes murderous in intent. Beyond wanting to see a wrong righted, we find ourselves wishing the destruction of a person—through the use of words if not a gun.
Many years ago, I experienced a dark and prolonged feud with a co-worker. “It troubles me to say this,” I…
seasons
Last summer brought unrelenting temperatures of more than 100 degrees to my part of the country. So when a day arrived when the sky brought overcast clouds and rain, I began to think about autumn and cooler weather. I love certain aspects of summer, but the too hot days stir my anticipation for what comes next.
The same is true…
true beauty
Some 30,000 people recently were informed that they weren’t as attractive as they thought. This image-shattering news came courtesy of the staff of a cyber dating service for “beautiful men and women.” The staff dropped the gasping group (and their glamor shots) from its ranks because they simply didn’t make the cut. A spokesman for the site said, “We can’t…
