“The best balm for the soul is friendship.” — Eddie Jaku   Imagine losing your wallet.   Not a hypothetical wallet. Your wallet. Driver’s license, credit cards, perhaps a

What Thomas Merton Learned at Fourth and Walnut   On March 18, 1958, Thomas Merton was standing at the intersection of Fourth and Walnut in downtown

A collection of reflections on isolation, meaning, friendship, solitude, aging, and human connection.   Loneliness in later life can arrive suddenly and disrupt our sense of

What artificial intelligence can do—and what it can never decide for us   Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, once described his company’s ambition as creating

What an ancient Jewish teaching suggests about faith, change, and seeing what was there all along   In the Jewish tradition, there is a passage in

Forgive me at the outset. I like puns.   Years ago, my best friend’s mother would say they were the lowest form of humor. We disagreed.

What success can hide—and what keeps a life open   There is a particular risk that comes with success. Not failure. Not struggle. Success. When things

Theodore Roosevelt was anything but cautious.   He moved quickly, took on fights others avoided, and usually came out ahead. When challenged, he pushed back harder.   He