We’ve all had moments when we’ve wished the ground would open up and swallow us. For one family in Quebec that’s exactly what happened.  According to reports on CNN.com a 500 yard sinkhole opened up threatening five homes in the town of Saint-Jude.  One home was sucked into the hole and a family of five lost their lives.  They were in the...

My younger brother, Dave,  is very conscious of the world around him and the way that he interacts with the people and resources in that world.  For years he and his wife kept a signed pinned to the back of their front door that read “Buy Less Stuff”.  When did little brothers get so smart? Recently he showed me a video by The Story of...

I used to work with a very wise woman named June. June had seen a lot of life and I loved listening to her stories.  One thing that stuck with me the most had to do with change.  She said quite simply “Don’t try to change other people.  The only person I can change is me.” She was talking about how tempting it can be to try an alter...

There’s been a lot of talk of hockey this week. The US Olympic men’s hockey team beat Canada for the first time since 1960.  I know we Canadians are a polite bunch, but that’s going to sting for a while. It wasn’t the first time the country was united behind a single game and it won’t be the last.  Ask any hockey historian and they...

Commercial flights aren’t as comfortable as they used to be. With meals and those little packs of peanuts a thing of the past, today’s savvy flyer has to take his or her comfort into their own hands.  The in-flight movie is one of the last comforts still left on commercial aircrafts.  But if you’re relying on the movie to entertain you for...

Before September 11, evil of this magnitude was impossible to think about. The idea that it could happen in the United States seemed ridiculous. The attacks happened years ago, but it hurts as if it was yesterday. There's a line in a poem by Emily Dickinson that describes the process of grieving as, "first – Chill– then Stupor – then the...

There must be a thousand clichés about finding direction. If you do a Google search you’ll find everything from the classic “follow your bliss”, to the iconic but less helpful “wherever you go, there you are”.   “Follow your bliss” is excellent advice, if you happen to know what your bliss is.  No wonder so many of us are confused...