January 1 - an entire shiny new year lying ahead, 365 calendar squares of unmarked living. It screams of so much potential. Who knows what might happen in those days? What sort of life may unfold? Who might you become in this year? And to give voice to that deep desire for change, this time… Continue reading Ditch the resolutions for a rule
It's Monday, a devil day for pastors. After a busy Sunday of putting yourself out there, discouragement can settle in and grumbling growls in your soul. I call them "Maple Mondays" because they can be moments I rue the day I didn't follow my dad and brothers into the family company (it's called Maple-Reinders). If you're… Continue reading Keep going
Human suffering is the great gadfly for every philosophy, worldview, religion and person. How each responds to the problem of suffering is emblematic of its spiritual depth and humanity. Whenever suffering intrudes into our lives, a very personal question quickly surfaces - “why me?” Why is the universe picking on me, hand delivering this misery? … Continue reading The flip side of “why me?”
I read this punch-in-the-gut story in today's Globe and Mail of a young girl terribly bullied and driven to plastic surgery that made me want to scream! I'm not blaming the girl. She's beaten down by a society sick with perfection. I'm furious with this circus of painted-faces and altered bodies, ill with this illusion of… Continue reading Bullied by “pretty”
If you were to build a perfect society, how would you build it? What you would include in it would be telling. But perhaps more revealing would be what you might exclude from your perfect world. McGill ethicist Margaret Somerville wrote this week in a Globe and Mail column about a move in Denmark to… Continue reading The mysterious mirror of disability
We're all faced with defining moments, times when our responses to the circumstances of life prophetically outline the shape of who we are becoming. This past week Vancouver had one of those defining moments - and I don't mean the riots. It was the day after the bedlam. There was an immediate groundswell of disgust… Continue reading The thread of civility, part 2
Who knew that a wallflower virtue like civility would be so vital to something like watching hockey? (I didn't say playing hockey but watching it!) It was not a huge surprise to me to see another Vancouver post-Stanley Cup riot this week. I'm sure there are a whole slew of reasons for it but one… Continue reading The thread of civility
Jim Collins observed that "good is the enemy of great," launching people, leaders and organizations on a relentless pursuit of greatness. But has anyone taken the time to properly assess this maxim? Greatness is, by definition, exceptional, and therefore an exception. If we all achieved greatness, we'd need to redefine greatness because it would all… Continue reading 70 is the new 100: the counter-intuitive folly of great expectations
Squinch 