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Let’s face it. Regardless of our political or philosophic leanings, we all want pretty much the same things out of life. We want good health. We want to love and be loved. We want good jobs at good wages. We want to be safe and secure here at home and abroad. We want our kids…

Sometimes our hearts and minds are stirred by the unlikeliest of sources. Take last week’s episode of NCIS (that’s right, NCIS—one of my guilty pleasures and one of TV’s top-rated dramas for nine years and counting). The main character on the show, Jethro Gibbs (played by Mark Harmon), faces a life or death situation which…

When someone gets a bonus at work, or some other form of recognition, are you happy for him or her—even when you get no such recognition? Or do you become overwhelmed with the feeling of sour grapes (or bananas), wishing it was you in the spotlight? What about when a family member or friend is…

Why do we serve others? Is it because we expect something (usually monetary) in return? Is it because of some religious or philosophical conviction? Or is it simply because serving others makes us feel good? For most of us, the reasons we serve others are probably some combination of the above, weighted differently depending on…

Do you get so caught up in the day-to-day of life that you begin to lose sight of what’s most important, often taking things for granted, overlooking what’s right in front of you, or simply going through the motions as if on autopilot? Sometimes I do. Sometimes I just seem to put on the proverbial…

Without question, making your voice heard is important to the social and moral “health” of America. I’d hate to imagine where we’d be as a country (even as a world) without the right to speak and assemble freely. And yet, as people around the country “occupy” this and “occupy” that, I can’t help but wonder…

It would be easy these days to become so preoccupied with what’s going on in Washington DC (or “not” going on, for that matter), your state capital, or your local business environment, that you start to lose sight of the task at hand: to live well, love well, work hard, and make a difference in…

Do you ever feel like a lone voice in the wilderness? Or worse yet, do you fear voicing your beliefs or even living them because doing so wouldn’t be popular or in vogue? I know, sometimes, I do. Sometimes it’s just easier just to go with the flow, avoid confrontation, and be a “yes” man…

For the past few weeks, I’ve focused on “entitlements,” mainly from the perspective of how some feel they’re entitled to something they’re not necessarily owed. Given recent events and the overall financial plight of our country, it shouldn’t take a simian with super intelligence to figure out why such thoughts were foremost in my mind.…

When you were little, I wager more than one adult asked you, “When you grow up, how are you going to change the world?” I was no different. I daydreamed often about how I was going to change things. I’d become president, be an astronaut, a doctor, or do something really cool, like act in…

The country’s financial ills aren’t going to fix themselves. We’ve got friends around the world, especially in Europe, hurting just as bad as (or worse than) us, and we’ve got enemies who would love nothing more than to see the United States crumble. And here at home, frankly, no matter what side of the political…