There was an incident in third grade. The teacher called my mother. I was caught red-handed. I made a small mistake on a worksheet. I didn’t like how it looked. So, I tore up the paper, threw it in the trash, and asked for a new worksheet. Twice. Three times. So, mom and I had … Continue reading Perfectionism
Tag: compassion
The Expendables
Once upon a time, my class watched the classic Hitchcock film, “Lifeboat,” in our first-year seminar course. The lifeboat was a microcosm of life. With severely limited resources, nine passengers on a lifeboat were faced with deciding who will live and who will die. Now, an algorithm might give a seriously injured man a lower … Continue reading The Expendables
What’s the Point?
“We all are going to die,” at least according to a prominent senator. This observation leads to two conclusions, both of which are unsatisfying. One is that religion (Christianity, according to the senator) will provide “salvation” in the next life, so we don’t need to fix things in this life. The other is that no … Continue reading What’s the Point?
Exile
When I taught a freshman course called, “Justice and the Good Society,” I used an equilateral triangle to describe the relationship between church, state, and individuals. My point was that historically speaking, whenever there was not a healthy tension between the three, society suffered. When two of these conspired, the third was in trouble. For … Continue reading Exile
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