Whether or Not You Feel Like It
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With the confetti hardly swept from the floor, my grandfather lost the family business. “Celebrating 75 Years,” the photo read, with Grandpa, Great-Grandpa, and Great-great-Grandpa standing tall for the camera. We were the Lowe’s of little town. But soured relationships and a spoiled inheritor buckled its knees. What does it take to receive the baton... Read More + |
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The finale of “The Office” had me laughing and even close to shedding a tear. For nine seasons, we watched as a PBS documentary crew filmed a bunch of people working in the Scranton office of the Dunder Miflin paper company. As we peered into the lives of these ordinary office workers, we could identify with them from our own office experiences. We... Read More + |
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He drew a smiley face underneath the day circled in red on the family calendar. I wasn’t nearly as giddy, and all I could really manage was a weak smile and an acknowledgement of the inevitable. While he was counting down the days until he left home, I still felt a sad certainty of resignation. For 18 solid years, we had prepared for this moment. When... Read More + |
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I’m sitting in the first part of a day-and-a-half meeting, one I was shoehorned into at the last minute. To attend this meeting means my work schedule, already jam-packed and high-stress, is wrecked. I should write a book of business theory called Management by Chaos. For several months, this has been my work life—crisis-ridden, every day a frenzy of... Read More + |
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We all want to arrive with a huge splash, right? Like a comet impacting a planet. Read More + |
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Every great story, every hero, every inspiring moment is born out of adversity and perseverance. Conflict and battles are the stuff of myth and legend, and we love these stories because, well, we can relate. Our personal and work lives are filled with mini-versions of this type of drama: Pushing through. Overcoming obstacles. Fighting. I am not... Read More + |
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She’s only a girl—a girl with fire engine red hair and a thousand freckles. She limps on shrunken legs across the commons room and slides weakly into a chair at a glass table. Glancing around the room, she looks at those of us in scrubs like she’s figuring an escape route and when her eyes land on me, I notice the prominent cheekbones, the sunken eyes,... Read More + |
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While attending a dinner, newly elected Senator Bill Bradley asked the waiter for an extra pat of butter. The waiter said, "Sorry, one pat per person." The emcee overheard and demanded: "Do you know who this is? This is Bill Bradley! All-American from Princeton. All-Pro with the Knicks. U.S. senator! Potential president!" The waiter responded, "Do... Read More + |
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Two behemoths rule the world of sci-fi: Star Wars and Star Trek. The two franchises have spun off movies, books, toys, and conventions. They've made piles of money, and dominated the pop cultural imagination. And they still manage to explore what it means to be human. In many ways, these stories ask the same question theologians have asked for... Read More + |
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Some might say that insecurity is my vocational Grim Reaper. I’d prefer to see it as ingenuity keeping things fresh. Either way, the traditional success story of rising to the top eludes me because I don’t stay on any work path long enough to go "Big." I get bored, say yes to the next shiny opportunity, or fill my life with so many engaging tasks that... Read More + |
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Your Fellow CitizenshipMark D. Roberts |
Have you ever been present when people become citizens of a country? Perhaps you were an immigrant who became a citizen of a country. Or perhaps you attended a naturalization ceremony in support of a friend or family member. I have never been present for such an event, but I have watched snippets on television and the Internet as people take the Oath of Allegiance and... Read More + |
