SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Their backs stooped, dozens of elderly North and South Koreans separated for six decades reunited Thursday, weeping and embracing in a rush of words and emotion. The reunions come during a rare period of detente between the rival Koreas and are all the more poignant because the participants will part again in a few days, likely forever. SOURCE: Tearful Korean reunions begin; first since 2010 – Yahoo News. It greatly saddens me to see a country that was torn apart by violence and has remained so for over sixty years.  If only the kid despot … Continue reading The Re-Unification of Korea….

I often wonder why I turned out to be such a social justice advocate. Was I born that way or was it due to some early childhood experiences? I am certain that growing up in a single parent household at the lower end of the economic ladder was a significant part of it. But I don’t think that was the driving factor. Like so many have said before, we might have been poor but I really didn’t know it until later. Many of my early heroes in the literary sphere wrote about ordinary people struggling with daily life. John Steinbeck … Continue reading Being A Social Justice Advocate…

I end many of my posts with the words “but I’m just a simple guy so what do I know?”  That is just my way of saying what Will Rogers said about all he know is what he reads in the newspaper. I don’t have some inside knowledge about anything I post about here.  One thing I want to make sure that you understand is that there is a world of difference between being a simple guy and being simpleminded. One of the biggest insults someone could call me is simpleminded. The dictionary says simpleminded is: lacking mental capacity and … Continue reading Simple Guy vs. Simpleminded….

There are some folks who would say they are Christian, but they are looking less and less like Jesus. And there are some folks who would never claim to be Christian, yet their hearts and their passions are slowly moving closer and closer to Jesus’ heart. It’s up to God to sort all that out. Being more like Jesus is what we are trying to do as Red Letter Christians; it’s where we’re coming from, and where we’re going. SOURCE:   Red Letter Revolution: What If Jesus Really Meant What He Said? (Claiborne, Shane;Campolo, Tony) Being a new year it is … Continue reading Reflections…

I am getting worn down by all this dark political stuff around lately. It just never seems to end. I simply can’t fathom how almost half of us have so little empathy for those on the margins of our society. Why do they so fervently want to take food out of their mouths and block them from getting affordable healthcare? It seems that some will go to any extreme to make those things happen.  A few months ago when I was in a similar depressed mode I vowed to keep on going so I could, in a small way, prevent … Continue reading Wearing Me Down….

ST. PAUL, Minn. – We previously reported that one thing holding back the economic recovery is there just aren’t enough skilled workers. But some companies have decided if they can’t find qualified employees, they’ll just create them — as we found out in St. Paul, Minnesota…. Tuition is $4,000, but the coalition provides scholarships. Later this month, the first class will graduate 18 students.  How does that compare to building a successful business? “It’s bigger,” said Guarino. “It’s bigger. It’s more important.”  For companies needing highly-skilled workers, it is a way to do good while ensuring they do well. Source: … Continue reading Training Your Workers…..

  “One sure way to determine the social conscience of a government is to examine the way taxes are collected and how they are spent. And one sure way to determine the social conscience of an individual is to get his tax reaction. Taxes, after all are the dues we pay for the privilege of membership in an organized society.” —President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, actively making the case for taxes as part of his re-election campaign in 1936. I know I am going to make some of my more conservative readers barf here but I consider FDR to be one … Continue reading Social Conscience…..

  Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” Vanity asks the question, “Is it popular?” But, conscience asks the question, “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right. ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I spent a good part of my life not being concerned with much of anyone except myself and later my wife. It wasn’t that I didn’t have any empathy but I … Continue reading Is It Right????