Self-sacrifice is not a virtue — Over the years, I’ve taken a lot of flak, especially from friends and family, for always saying I look out for myself first before I look out for anybody else. When I say “looking out for myself,” I mean the conscious effort to make rational decisions that lead to the…

The story of an influential psychologist — Carl Rogers has been called “America’s most influential psychologist. Before his death in 1987, Rogers began work on a collection of his writings in response to popular demand. These publications were made available to the public in a variety of formats, the most popular of which were his autobiography, On…

It only took two things — Two things happened. One Friday afternoon, Mr. Foster, our neighbor, who had postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), came falling and stumbling through his own house and landed bang on his face in the main bedroom. He was working as a maritime welder on various ships when he got into a…

Will President Macron be the first French leader to abandon the past? — Charles de Gaulle, France’s most powerful postwar president, was regarded by the French as the second most powerful leader after Napoléon Bonaparte. There is no more famous remark by de Gaulle than the last line of the first paragraph of his War Memoirs: “France cannot remain France without grandeur.” French…

This person affected my mental health for a brief period, but — Check this guy out. He is 2.1 meters tall and built like a race horse, minus the speed. His frame fills my office door, except he has to lean slightly forward so that his head is inside rather than outside. He’s taller than the door frame of my office and…

Using food insecurity as a weapon is bad, but deliberately spreading false information about food insecurity is ten times worse. Some leaders who are talking about The Black Sea grain deal are exchanging the truth for a lie. It’s an Unholy Exchange. That’s what idolatry is: the exchange of the…

The two met in strange ways — In 1993, Eugene Pauly, an elderly man with arthritis, was admitted to a laboratory in San Diego for a scheduled appointment. He was suffering from viral encephalitis, a disease caused by a relatively harmless virus that produces cold sores, fever blisters, and mild infections on the skin. …

Is Medium.com on the billionaire's payroll? — I rarely tag people on this platform, let alone senior management of the platform, popular writers, or anyone with whom I don’t feel I have a direct connection. Maybe for once, only once, I should put that principle on hold and go real crazy on my tagging to get the…

Africa from the Roman Empire to the Cold War — The year is 476 AD (CE). The Western Roman Empire has collapsed, and the city of Rome is in chaos. In the midst of this chaos, a group of men gathers in a small room in the Vatican. …