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It may be that my simple mind does not understand the complexities of statecraft or that my aging mind does not like change. Whatever the reason, I would have been happy for the lake formally known as Ontario to retain its name of 400 or more years. In fact, I may wait a couple of years before I use TLFKAO’s new name. Who knows, it may want to go back to what it’s always been called.

This post is not about the politics of hydronomy, though I do have my opinions about the politics of this name change. Frankly, I was never bothered by the name Gulf of Mexico and tend still to use it when we are in Florida visiting our son and his family who live on the Gulf Coast near Pensacola. And for me the name Ontario works by far the best for that least great of the Great Lakes.

This is not a post about politics, or lakes and their names, however. This is a post about anthroponymy (Yes, it’s a word. Look it up.) Continue reading →

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The headline on my newsfeed caught my eye.  “NO, Street Vagrants Are Not ‘Our Neighbors’.” But they probably are.

The article had to do with policies regarding the homeless in Los Angeles.  An apparently newly-elected city council member and Democratic Socialist used the term “neighbors” in arguing for a new, and arguably more lenient, policy regarding homeless encampments. Now, you can count me out when it comes to the growing support for the Democratic Socialists. My guess is that we are going to find the “warmth of collectivism” as cold as the wait for a Siberian spring.

After deciding I disagreed with the headline, I read the article.

The “not our neighbors” line was not clickbait set as a lure to entice curious fish; it was the heart of the post. The columnist wrote:“Neighbor” traditionally conjures the image of someone with an equal stake in one’s community as oneself, who shares one’s interest in stability, and who can be counted on, in times of need, for help. The occupants of the feces- and drug-strewn trash sites euphemistically referred to as “encampments,” as if they were part of a Boy Scout Jamboree, don’t fit the bill. Those transients are parasites on other people’s efforts to create a community. They contribute nothing, pay no rent or taxes, and inevitably bring lawlessness and predation. They almost invariably turn down the shelter and services offered by feckless outreach workers, since they want no interference with their unrestricted drug use.” Continue reading →

The book made its headlines ten years ago, but I just read it this week after reading an essay that mentioned it. The Amazon page from which I ordered “When Breath Becomes Air,” quoted a New York Times review describing the book as ““Unmissable . . . Finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option.”  I will not forget about it.

The dust jacket of “When Breath Becomes Air” identifies the book as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The Pulitzer nominees page describes the setting for Paul Kalanithi’s writing, “At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live.” The book is the story of Kalanithi’s first 35 years of life – his growing up years and his decision to become a neurosurgeon, and of his last 20 months of living with and then dying of cancer.

“When Breath Becomes Air” was not the first in the genre of death journals, nor of the genre of a physician becoming the patient. With its fine writing and deep insights both into medicine and the search for meaning in life, it may be one of the best of either genre. The book is not a “Christian book” by any means, but Christian faith is present and real as Kalanithi seeks the meaning of life and of death.

I recommend the book without hesitation. Because it is ten years old, the hardcover edition is actually cheaper than the Kindle version. Buy it! Go to your local library and check it out! Continue reading →

Our 8-year-old grandson has taken to calling us “the oldies.”  We take it as a term of affection.  It’s also true. We are oldies. I will celebrate my 75^th birthday next month and enter what J.I. Packer called being old. Not young-old and not old-old. Just old.

For all our lives we Baby Boomers have dominated our world. Suburbs and schools were built for us in the 1950s. We warned against trusting anyone over 30 in the 1960s. Our music, our movies, our politics, and our preferences have defined reality for decades. Now the youngest of us are receiving monthly Social Security checks and the oldest of us are finding ourselves in assisted living and nursing care facilities.

We may be old, but still we dominate.

A current best-seller, Gerontocracy in America, by Yale historian Samuel Moyn looks primarily at the political ramifications of our generation’s refusal to go gentle into that good night, but considers, as well, other ways Boomers hold onto power, position, and possessions.

Maybe it is just a case of turn-around being fair play. Gen-Xers like Moyn along with younger Millennials and Zoomers are taking aim at the generation that ignored Gen-Xers, belittled Millennials, and now mostly roll our eyes at our Zoomer children and grandchildren. They want us to go away. Not only do we need to vacate our political offices (good idea!), we should hurry up and pass on our $100 trillion of accumulated wealth, sell our houses, travel less, maybe even make a final exit. Continue reading →

“A Self-Help Influencer with Troubles of Her Own.” The headline appeared in last week’s New York Times and offered enough bait for me to click the link. Full disclosure: I think the existence of “influencers” is a bitter indictment of the sad state of our culture, and I wondered if I might take delight in the woes of one member of a breed of such pernicious persons. I was not disappointed

The article is about an influencer who, according to the Times, “millions look to (…) for advice on how to achieve contentment and maintain healthy relationships.” It turns out that she has achieved little contentment in her own life and that her personal relationships are a disaster, even according to the New York Times, which, in its current iteration, has not seen a left-leaning relationship trend it cannot endorse (currently all in for polyamory). The on-again off-again estrangement with her two partners and the lawsuits filed against one another do not paint a picture of contentment and healthy relationships.

The English Standard Bible translates the Greek word κανῶν as “area of influence” (kanon – from which we get the English word “canon” – a standard or rule of faith and conduct). As Paul writes to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11:13-18) he speaks of the area of influence God has assigned. He desires that he might influence others for the sake of the Gospel. Continue reading →