"The ache for home lives in all of us." — Maya Angelou People use the word home in ways that have nothing to do with an address. Someone returns to the town where they grew up and understands, perhaps for the first time, what Thomas Wolfe meant by
Doing the right thing is easy when someone is watching. The real test comes when no one is. Suppose your town announced an unusual experiment. For the next twenty-four hours, every traffic law would remain on the books, but none would be enforced. Red lights would still
“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” — Carl Gustav Jung It is an unusual way to think about relationships. We often measure relationships by time. How many years have we known someone? How
A few days ago, thousands of people gathered in Chicago for the official opening of the Obama Presidential Center. Organizers described it as a celebration of democracy, culture, service, and hope—a place intended not simply to preserve history, but to encourage people to participate in
The Burden We Share A reader recently responded to one of our reflections with a deeply honest observation. One of the privileges of this publication is the opportunity to learn from readers. We publish articles and reflections, but often the conversation continues in the comments. Occasionally, someone
“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 little cash, and all the small things that accumulate over time. How likely do you think it is that a stranger
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 stability. This can happen when a loved one dies, a marriage ends, we leave a job for the last time, or
“The eternal quest of the individual human being is to shatter one's loneliness.” — Norman Cousins Loneliness is not always the absence of people. Sometimes it shows up in the middle of everyday life. It can be felt in a room that has slowly grown quieter, in a
Spirituality and Loneliness in Later Life Recent studies have revealed a troubling trend: nearly half of adults today have fewer than three close friends in whom they can confide. That number has doubled since 1990. This is not a new concern for us. In earlier reflections on
The Last Repair Shop Meaning There are some things we fix because they are broken. There are others we restore because they matter. That difference sits at the heart of The Last Repair Shop, the Oscar-winning short film set inside a Los Angeles workshop where a small