Tag: Henri Nouwen

Optics: a soap bubble exhibiting interference colours

Imposers and Exposers

I’ve been thinking about windows and mirrors lately, an educational concept created by scholar and educator Emily Style. 

Windows allow readers to see into different lives and different ideas.  Mirrors reflect a person’s own culture, ethnicity, and philosophy.  As Sydney Harris, an American journalist and author, said:

“[M]ost people reflect the emotions of the time, while few open windows that bring light to dark places.”

Title: Fitness Level 0.973751247856 | Author: Mario Klingemann | Source: Own Work | License: CC BY-NC 2.0

Gratitude for the Gift

“The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.” —Henri Nouwen I have always been intrigued by the small slice of time humans have inhabited the earth. Most scientists agree that the earth was formed about 4 billion years ago and humans, in our approximate form, have existed a maximum of 400,000 Read More

My grandchildren, Annie and Ezra, on their first day of Pre-K

Imperfect Friends

No friend is perfect. Some let you down. Some disappear in a crisis. Some say the wrong words in their attempts to be helpful. Some just move on. And yet, as individuals, we need friends to survive and grow; and, as a society we need more civility, respect, and acceptance of differences if we are going to resolve the divide that plagues us. In a recent column, David Brooks said: “The great challenge of our Read More