A Dying Man’s Question; A Turkish Answer
I was reluctant to tell my new hospice patient in San Francisco that I would be traveling in Turkey for the next two weeks. Two weeks for me was a short amount of time. For him, it would most likely be a significant portion of the life he had left. But it was a trip my wife and I had scheduled six months prior, and as is the case with so many things, my life involves a merging of these two...
Read MoreWelcome to Kauai. What’s the Strange Stick in Your Hand?
This article was originally published in Saltwater Fly Fishing, December, 1999 Almost every trip now is a fishing trip. Whether it is a professional conference in Anaheim or a visit to see my son at his summer camp in the Adirondacks. So when it was decided that as a family we would go to Kauai for Easter, I pulled out every old fly fishing magazine I owned along with the few books available on...
Read MoreChariots of Conscience
I stepped aboard the chartered bus and sat in a comfortable reclining cloth seat with a pull-down footrest. It looked no different than thousands of other Greyhound buses in the 1960’s. A gleaming silver box with sleek greyhounds painted on both sides that soon would be driven by a driver who was greeting entering passengers with a smile. What I didn’t realize was in twenty-five minutes, this bus would begin a journey that would change the lives of its passengers and the soul of the country.
Read MoreThe Path to Easy Learning
What do you think about when someone says "happiness?" Usually, what comes to mind are things, or outcomes. Happiness can be a four-car garage in the suburbs, a high-paying job, an expensive new car, or a child who becomes a successful professional. We have a tendency to externalize happiness. It becomes something intimately involved in a thing or event. It becomes a goal. Unfortunately, the path to that goal is often ignored.
Read MoreCowboying Up!
When my wife suggested that we go to a guest ranch for our wedding anniversary, I could see no way out. For years Wendy had been making the same suggestion, and for years circumstances had always (fortunately) intervened. This year, alas, there wasn't an excuse in sight. Worse, our son was attending a college within 2 hours of 15 different Arizona guest ranches. It was hopeless. I was fated to spend 4 days with wannabe cowboys dressed in sequined shirts and pointy-toed boots.
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