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Gettysburg — Why They Fought
Another excellent piece by David Brooks in The New York Times today. It is a reflection on the difference in soldiers from the Civil War to today. The language, the letters, the thoughts, are so completely different. We look so small today in comparison. In our current era, as the saying goes, we take that which is lower to be…
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Language Shifts Indicate Cultural Shifts
David Brooks has a column today reflecting on language shifts over the last 50 years. His observations are interesting. Usage of humility words like “modesty” and “humbleness” dropped by 52 percent. Usage of compassion words like “kindness” and “helpfulness” dropped by 56 percent. Meanwhile, usage of words associated with the ability to deliver, like “discipline” and “dependability” rose over…
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The Oppressed and Spree Killers
The shootings in Aurora, CO, shock us once again. It is absolutely horrifying that someone plans that much detail just to kill as many people as possible. We will keep asking “Why” and the “why” may never come. We will have conversations about gun control and violence and so many more things. Well, we won’t actually have any real conversations on those…
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The Dangers of Thinking of Ourselves as Basically “Good”
There is hardly a David Brooks column I wouldn’t recommend. He is one of the most even handed columnists I can find anywhere. His column today, however, is simply exceptional. He usually is worth reading, so I would say if you have a chance to read a column of his, do so. With today’s column, I would say, “READ IT!”…
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The Rage Against Religion While Thinking You Are Spiritual
David Brooks is one of my favorite columnists. He hits it out of the ballpark again on THIS COLUMN. He took the viral video of the guy raging against religion and got into the why, and then the results of the video. Challenged with the exact words of the video, the young man actually realized he needed to learn to…
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Blue Chips and Junk Bonds
David Brooks is one of my favorite columnists. This column discusses politics, but it reminds me of a conversation I had regarding ministry as well. Brooks’s contention is that liberals have allowed short term gains to cloud their vision for long term good. The conversation I had regarding churches and ministry was much the same. American churches are investing in…
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Difficult Thoughts on Penn State
While I maintain the superiority of baseball over all other sports (and have fun doing so), I do love sports in general. And I had a passion for college sports over pro sports. There was certainly an admiration I carried for years for Joe Paterno because he seemed to do things the “right” way in football. Of course, it has…
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Whiplash Politics and Microwave Christianity
David Brooks of the New York Times hits the nail on the head today. (HERE.) We think so highly of ourselves, we just think we can whip this economy back into shape without realizing the depth of the problem and that TIME will really help in pulling ourselves out of the mess. This is leading to what I call “whiplash”…
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The Loss of a Moral Compass
David Brooks’ column in The New York Times gives a synopsis of where we have come. Just yesterday in my Church History lecture I was talking with my students about the place tradition had in the Church for about 1700 years. While I will never argue that trusting tradition is always a good thing, I will say it is basically a good thing,…
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Learn from Failure
This column by David Brooks is tremendous. His columns are tremendous as a standard, in my book. As a culture, we have to come to a place individually where we admit our shortcomings and learn. Learn from FAILURE. But our culture has tried to shield us from failure. I am guilty of this as a parent. We all have our…
Tag: David Brooks
