Your trusted local news source since 1910
Your trusted local news source since 1910
Sorted by date Results 76 - 80 of 80
My mother was born on May 19th, 1913. When she was born 110 years ago, World War I hadn’t happened, the Civil War was a recent memory for many. There were ex-slaves who still worked in the family fields and household. The whole idea of the Civil Rights movement was unimaginable to virtually anyone. Radio had been invented but I don’t think it had reached rural Mississippi. Television and computers were things of which few folks could imagine. We can go back some 2,500 years to get some per...
When Rabbi Harold S. Kushner died last month my mind went back some 40 years to the publication of his book, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”. It remains, to me, one of the very best books ever written on the subject of human suffering and how we think about God. Rabbi Kushner spoke from experience, he wrote honestly and compassionately. His son died of progeria shortly after his 14th birthday. I heartily recommend his book for anyone dealing with grief and the unfairness that so oft...
I saw a clip from the old show All in the Family. Meathead is putting on his socks and shoes. He puts on one sock then puts on that shoe. Archie, who is watching, goes ballistic because he believes it is only acceptable to put on both socks before putting on a shoe. The debate is ridiculous. The point made is not ridiculous. Archie, in his supreme narcissism and narrow mindedness, cannot conceive of anyone doing anything that doesn’t conform to his idea of how things should be. If social m...
A friend put in a request for a column addressing a sensitive subject. Over the years numerous folks have expressed similar emotions and there’s always guilt in their voices when they’ve told me about it. When a loved one dies, the one left behind feels grief but, frequently, also relief. Our relief produces guilt. “If I truly loved him or her, how can I feel relief that they’re gone?” Grief is a complex issue. It is neither simple nor is there a standard that applies to everyone. People ma...
A reader, who clearly didn't care for columns devoted to science, said, "You know, science gets things wrong." She was, of course, correct. Science does get things wrong sometimes. The difference between science and opinion though, is when science is shown to have made a mistake it seeks to correct the mistake rather than digging in its heels and defending the indefensible. An example of scientific methodology was observation of the planet Uranus, discovered in 1781. As scientists studied it...
