Frederick Douglass, Fatherhood
Two Hundred Years Later, Frederick Douglass Teaches Us That Fatherhood Still Matters Frederick Douglass, born 200 years ago in 1818, was never completely sure of his father’s identity. All he knew for certain was that his father was a white man who had raped his mother. Yet Douglass would become a loving, devoted father of five, who remained actively involved in the lives of his children and grandchildren for his entire life. Douglass wrote at length about how slaveholders deliberately prevented blacks from forming families and tore them apart when they did form. Douglass noted the irony of...
Read MoreWords from a failure
An ER Doctor Speaks at a High School Graduation Last week, I delivered the Baccalaureate address at my alma mater North Central High School in Indianapolis. This is what I said to the graduates: In kindergarten, I got a prize in the science fair for painting Play-Doh black. I wedged plastic dinosaurs and saber-tooth tigers in it to make it look like the La Brea tar pits. I think it was in 4th grade when I won a ribbon in the Allisonville grade school pancake supper poster contest. And those two pinnacle moments pretty much sum up the entirety of my academic accolades in Washington Township...
Read MoreMemorial Day Values
Frederick Douglass Speaks Memorial Day honors the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Observed the last Monday of May, it is also known as Decoration Day. It originated in the years following the Civil War. Below is a speech given by Mr. Frederick Douglass at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, on Decoration Day, May 30, 1871. Friends and Fellow Citizens: Tarry here for a moment. My words shall be few and simple. The solemn rites of this hour and place call for no lengthened speech. There is, in the very air of this resting-ground of the unknown dead a...
Read MoreBikes galore!
Off to a good start Yesterday’s Annual Bike Clinic was a great turnaround success! We say “turnaround” because rainy weather was threatening but turned around Saturday morning and was welcoming by mid-day. Dan Lill and the crew from R Community Bikes (including our very own Justine’s friend John) arrived with their professional repair van and set up around 12:45 pm, followed by our first eager participants shortly before our 1 pm opening time. With only an occasional sprinkle here and there, matched by flashes of sun peeking through, we had a wonderful group of...
Read MoreRebirth of Israel
“Comfort, comfort my people” Israel was miraculously reborn as a modern nation 70 years ago on May 14, 1948, one of the most pivotal days in history… Christians around the world are joining with the people of Israel to celebrate the landmark anniversary of this historic moment in time. After twenty centuries of exile and persecution, Abraham’s descendants have reestablished national sovereignty on the land that almost 4,000 years earlier God had promised would be their “everlasting possession.” (Genesis 48) “…I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear...
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