Want instant male friendship? Join a pickup game of football. The other day I came across one such game on the field of the Citadel. I was out there for a volunteer event, but some dudes wisely capitalized on a […]
It can be easy to be bored with where you come from. This is especially true if you live in a city or a suburb. After all, the cities on the other side of the country have Subway and OrangeTheory […]
My Dad doesn’t read much. My Mom will never be interested in philosophy. They watch the news – I don’t. They like to talk about the minutia of everyday life, and I like to talk about big picture stuff. Needless […]
If you have the good fortune to live in a place without snow, take some time to get outside this Christmas. Perhaps because so many of our images of Christmas come from up north, it’s tempting to just sit inside […]
Great gift-giving is one of the ultimate tests of empathic skills and resourcefulness. You must both 1) anticipate the needs and desires of another person and 2) source something that will meet those needs 3) while genuinely surprising the gift […]
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you haven’t seen Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Seriously, stop. I loved watching this movie. Maybe in an hour, maybe in a day, maybe in a month one of the cynics and critics […]
In Charles Dickens’ “Christmas Carol,” the terrifying Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Ebenezer Scrooge several scenes from a London after his death, including one in which a group of Londoners raids his house while his corpse lies unburied. […]
I get really thoughtful when I go on long drives. Sometimes I reflect on things I have to do to make my life all that it can be. Sometimes I think about my dreams and plans. Sometimes I think about […]
Tonight I went ice skating for the third or fourth time in my life. Part of my motivation for hitting the rink again? Improve this skill 1) for the (very unlikely) case I ever have to use it someday and […]
Comparing yourself to other people is a losing game. You will find yourself disliking yourself and envying others, rarely feeling content. If you get what you want, it won’t feel like yours because you won’t be yourself. Find a truer […]
After I ran my first half-marathon this year, I went through a bit of a dry spell with running. Short runs felt anticlimactic (to be honest, they still do) and I didn’t see much reason to get out and run. […]
There is a courage of impulsivity (you might just call it boldness), but then there is a courage that has to come after long hesitations or deliberations. This is a courage that comes much more slowly than boldness, but it’s […]
We aren’t so much disillusioned by the failures of others as by our own failures. We aren’t just disillusioned with our ideals because of the corrupt systems at our companies or in our countries. Plenty of people keep their idealism […]
There’s an old part of many adventure stories in fantasy and history: the arrival of the guide and the call to adventure. It’s young dweeby Steve Rogers being picked to be Captain America. It’s Gandalf rapping on Bilbo Baggins’ door. […]
There’s something ironic about courage: it often comes when we’re furthest from home. I am never so outgoing, bold, and adventurous as when I am hundreds or thousands of miles away from the familiar world of my day to day […]
“But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” – Jesus in the […]
People play games. Some games are fun. Like soccer. They’re games you can join in on. Other games are not so fun. They’re games in which *you* are the soccer ball. I’m talking about emotional manipulation, pretense, posturing, and all […]
As I re-engage with social media more in my personal life, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how much of my life I want to share. I understand how useful it can be to attract people’s attention with […]
“Tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.” – G.K. Chesterton At 23, I’ve been longer at my company than most people. I have a memory of five […]
Last night I was walking by a bar with some friends when I noticed that the Miss Universe contest was on a TV. Miss Vietnam was standing next to the show’s emcee, and I wondered out loud how anticlimactic it […]
Wondering how to start traveling to more places? If you’re like me, you probably find it a bit overwhelming to look at a globe and start tallying up all the places you’d like to see. You probably also find it […]
I’m one of those few people who think pleasure (real pleasure) can make human beings better rather than worse. So every party I host or attend is a kind of philosophical test. I want my guests (and fellow guests, when […]
Have you ever traded sports cards? When I was young, I briefly owned a collection of baseball cards. Even though, I didn’t follow professional baseball at all, I still enjoyed owning cards for talented players, players on cool-sounds teams, etc. […]
Mere forgetfulness is underrated as a killer of dreams. As I get older, time seems to get faster. And as time gets faster, it’s all too easy for me to drop into my routine and do exactly what I’m used […]
I really wish I had known more about the practical costs of living when I was much younger. I had the great blessing of having parents who had enough to take care of me, and enough to shelter me from […]
I’m insecure about not measuring up at work. It especially bothers me to think that I might ultimately fail despite all my efforts – that I might discover that I am a failure. As I measure and consider the work […]
I started out my adult life not knowing the cost of most things. Rent? Nope. Utilities? Didn’t know that. Taxes? Not so much. I didn’t know the cost of education, the cost of even the cost of airline tickets. I […]
It’s a dangerous thing to have too many convictions and too few actions to support those convictions. It’s dangerous for all the obvious reasons: you tend to become a hypocrite, you tend not to actually help, etc. But it’s also […]
There are few things we young people like more than competing for status. Unfortunately, we’re often tempted in the direction of acquiring status by buying stuff we can’t afford so we can fool people into thinking we have wealth we […]
Just rewatched this film (on Disney+) with my brother. It’s probably one of the best comedies produced in the 1990s, but it’s timeless in a way that makes me think even Shakespeare could have staged it. If you haven’t seen […]