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Building Self Esteem at Any Age

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Building Self Esteem at Any Age

C.S. Lewis once wrote: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” Many of us often seem to get humility confused with bad self-esteem as a way to justify our dwelling place within self discouragement. But it’s not good or healthy for us to stay there. We’re more or less taught this by society unfortunately, and learning bad self-esteem at a young age is pretty common. Since so many of us are programed to think lowly ourselves, how can we turn that around, no matter where we are in age or life experience? We all have different challenges that work against our own self respect and self image, but they can be manageable and do not have to break us down. Trust, Trust, Trust Did you know that including a … [Read more...]

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One Year Without a Wristwatch

Today is a perfect occasion to show off my predilection for recalling and recounting trivial information. Today is the first anniversary of giving up my wristwatch. Or more appropriately, of my last watch giving up the ghost. From age 7 to age 31 I wore some kind of wristwatch on my left arm. When the last one broke, I decided to see what it would be like to give up the instant time-telling habit cold turkey. The good news is I have gone a whole year without a timepiece on my arm. Of course, having a cell phone that keeps track of time sure helps. But I never would have thought it would be so easy to live life wristwatch-free. Now back to your regularly scheduled broadcasting of truly important news and commentary. … [Read more...]

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Memorial Day Reflections: Audie Murphy & A Moment for Silent Reflection

On this Memorial Day, I can't think to do any better than point you back to last year's remembrance:O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, Till all success be nobleness, And every gain divine. Today, pay your respects to a fallen soldier, sailor, airman, Marine - and to their loved ones still with us. And don’t forget to thank the troops you meet for their service to us all. Happy Memorial Day! Otherwise, I defer to this Saturday Wall Street Journal column by Peggy Noonan (H/T Steve Meyer) on the need to renew American fascination with the military hero. … [Read more...]

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Colorado Democrats, Journalists Duped by Fraudulent Vet “Rick Duncan”

From 9News:Sure, he stuttered on occasion. He said strange things from time to time. But Rick Duncan was passionate about veterans in the state of Colorado. He told anyone who wanted to listen that he had served in Iraq on three occasions. That gave him an unofficial license to talk to journalists, politicians, and civilians about the war. So, many people simply ate it all up. The only problem was that Duncan wasn't actually a Marine, a Naval Academy graduate, or a wounded Iraq War Veteran, according to those who have looked into his background. His name, according to the Denver Sheriff's Department, isn't even Rick Duncan. It's Rick Strandlof, and as of Thursday afternoon, Strandlof remained inside a Denver County Jail cell. He … [Read more...]

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Few Tears Shed for Disappearance of Colorado Lefty Propaganda Machine

(Cue music to "Mrs. Robinson") "Where have you gone, Colorado Media Matters? A state barely notices you're through ... Woo, woo, woo...." Nice ("don't let the door hit you on the way out") post-mortems from Slapstick Politics and Rossputin. Curious silence from the various Lefty blogs I've read, though. Maybe they are just relieved that the embarrassment is gone. As for me, I feel bad I've already wasted the last 5 minutes of my life... … [Read more...]

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What I’m Thankful for #11: Loyal Friends Over Long Distances

This is one in a series of daily posts I conceived of writing many weeks ago while the election still raged on, as I looked for something to write about of more lasting value. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving seemed perfectly appropriate for it. Just in case you wondered, the topics introduced are not necessarily in any particular order. I hope the series is of some small encouragement to you, even as my site traffic takes a dive. Don't worry. The purpose of this post is not to attempt to seek a definition of "Friendship" or to categorize the different varieties and permutations of friends I have, as Joseph Epstein sought to do. Instead, I just wanted to briefly and publicly state my gratitude for the friends I have gained … [Read more...]

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What I’m Thankful For #8: A Liberal Arts College Education

This is one in a series of daily posts I conceived of writing many weeks ago while the election still raged on, as I looked for something to write about of more lasting value. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving seemed perfectly appropriate for it. Just in case you wondered, the topics introduced are not necessarily in any particular order. I hope the series is of some small encouragement to you, even as my site traffic takes a dive. If my mission in life were to go forth and make as much money as possible, I'd have to be considered a fool and a failure by now (some think the same of me, anyway). One of my first missteps would have been choosing to be a history major at a small liberal arts college of somewhat unique renown. But I have … [Read more...]

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Reasonable, Principled Compromise Needed to Rebuild GOP Coalition

Lately I've struggled for the time and energy to put together some coherent thoughts about what the GOP needs to do to rebuild. Jim Manzi at The Corner said it almost perfectly for me. You need to read the whole post, but here is a key excerpt:While it is always possible to imagine some arbitrary configuration of 51% of voters who have the label “conservative”, Rod’s point [ed: that "no conservative movement that hopes to be successful can do so without religious conservatives"] strikes me as correct as a practical matter. Further, more important than the question of electoral advantage, is the fact that tens of millions of citizens have deeply held beliefs that should be considered in making and enforcing the law. I also believe … [Read more...]

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What I’m Thankful for #4: Spiritual Mentors

This is one in a series of daily posts I conceived of writing many weeks ago while the election still raged on, as I looked for something to write about of more lasting value. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving seemed perfectly appropriate for it. Just in case you wondered, the topics introduced are not necessarily in any particular order. I hope the series is of some small encouragement to you, even as my site traffic takes a dive. When you're young and foolish - well, you're young and foolish. The spiritual influence of my parents (the topic of a future thankfulness post) was real, but wouldn't suffice by itself. I am thankful for the influence of non-family spiritual mentors during my teenage, college, and young adult years. I can … [Read more...]

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Defeated but Not Down

It's hard to live up to the promise of live-blogging when there isn't much good news to report. This is the Democrats' night. I'll let them enjoy it. May God give them the grace to govern wisely. Somehow I doubt they will, certainly not from the perspective of life, liberty, and limited government. At least the vittles are good here at the John Bodnar party in Westminster. I couldn't bring myself to visit the somber affair down at the Marriott South. Meanwhile, I'll go look for the few bright spots of the night. Some big tax increases on the ballot maybe going down. (This tells me the state isn't lurching Left as much as it's turning Blue.) Other than that, not much. Don't expect to see a lot of politics on this site in the days … [Read more...]