Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have apparently risen sharply in the past decade, so says The New York Times. More Americans now die of suicide than car accidents. The greatest increases have been among males in their 50s. Researchers acknowledge that the reasons are complex and varied. But two factors seem to stand out: stresses of the recession and the easy availability of prescription painkillers. One other factor may be significant: Baby boomers had great expectations for how well their lives would be, but for most it didn’t turn out that way. Looking at the ebb and surge of socially…
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In 1995 astronomer Clifford Stoll boldly predicted in Newsweek magazine that the Internet would be a passing fad. He titled his article, “The Internet? Bah!” In a Minnesota Public Radio interview he said, “I expect the value of the Internet for communications in general isn’t very high. . . . I think it’s grossly oversold and within two or three years people will shrug and say, ‘Uh yep, it was a fad of the early 90s. . . .’ simply because there’s so little of value there.” It seems he was wrong. (And Newsweek went out of print.) In a…
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What do you celebrate at Christmas? Not just going along with the flow but consciously, deliberately celebrate. And no, Andy Williams, you foolish Christmas paganizer, it’s not the ludicrous schlock you sing about in “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” or “Happy Holidays.” Pity all who are forced to hear that nonsense in the stores and malls. Christmas is about more than baby Jesus being born. It’s much bigger than that. At Christmas we celebrate the fact that God come down. He condescended to enter this broken, sinful world because he loves us. He condescended to incarnate himself…
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Here’s a new one: Commit suicide while shopping. A man and his girlfriend in eastern China where shopping for five hours at a mall. He’d had enough and wanted to go home. She wanted to go into one more store that had a sale on shoes. An eyewitness said, “He told her she already had enough shoes, more shoes tha[n] she could wear in a lifetime and it was pointless buying more. She started shouting at him accusing him of being a skinflint and of spoiling Christmas, it was a really heated argument.” The man dropped the bags and jumped…
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What’s inside a person? Nelson Mandela is born and raised in a country village, becomes a lawyer against all odds, sacrifices everything in a fight for political freedom, becomes the leader of that fight, goes to prison for life in lieu of the death penalty for attempting to overthrow the government, gets released after 27 years, and forgives all the people who oppressed him and his people, then becomes president of the same nation and one of the most significant people of our generation. He wasn’t perfect and had a less-successful private life–divorced twice–yet he himself was the first to…
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