Who or What Holds Your Allegiance?

The real answer may not be your first response. My mind keeps returning to the picture from January 6 of the man who used the U.S. Flag that he was carrying to beat a police officer. I’m sure if you asked this man, he would describe himself as a patriot. But consider that, as a …

Read more

Words & Responsibility

We have the responsibility to stop and consider what we say and write, especially on social media. Jonas Ellison, in his article The Pundit Impulse and the Power of Revision: Bringing humanity back to our published words (links below), talks about how social media has made us all pundits. The ease with which we can push …

Read more

Semantics Matter

Heated discussions in my family often ended with someone declaring “It’s just semantics!” as we often agreed in the essentials, if not the specifics. But semantics matter. For writers, it should never be “just semantics”. We should be careful and cognizant of what we say, how we say it, and what the consequences might be. …

Read more

The Cost of Being Right

We’re told as children to do the right thing, to fight for what is right and good. We get lulled into thinking that if you’re right, everything is going to be OK. But life doesn’t always work that way. Being right can cost us. Even righteous anger still has consequences. Let me illustrate. I recently …

Read more

Remembered with Integrity

Not all heroes have integrity, but most all who have integrity are heroes. During the non-stop coverage Sunday morning after the death of Senator John McCain, they replayed a clip from an interview after one of his presidential campaign defeats. The reporter’s question was, “How would you like to be remembered?” It’s one of those …

Read more