“We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated.” — Bryan Stevenson, civil rights attorney, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, and author of Just Mercy. Some people have been part of our lives for so long that we can barely remember a time
“Yo! Adrian!” It is one of the most memorable lines in modern cinema. It sounds like a victory cry, which makes it easy to forget that it is shouted at a moment of defeat. Rocky Balboa has just gone fifteen rounds with Apollo Creed, his face battered
Mary Oliver liked to walk the same path every day. She lived for decades in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where woods, dunes, marshes and beaches gave her plenty of places to walk. Yet Oliver often chose the same path. “My own nature is to like to walk the same
Before he died, Indianapolis businessman Terry Kahn gave his attorney one unusual instruction: Do not spend money on an obituary. Kahn did not believe anyone would be interested in reading about his life. He was wrong. When Kahn died in 2021, he left behind an estate worth
“I don’t know.” Three simple words. Perhaps among the hardest words for adults to say. When we’re young, we often believe maturity means accumulating answers. School rewards certainty. Careers reward expertise. Society admires confidence. We learn to project assurance, even when we feel anything but certain inside. Yet something
Why Empty Time Matters More Than We Realize “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” — Mahatma Gandhi There was a time when waiting was simply waiting. We sat in doctor's offices and looked around the room. We stood in grocery store lines and noticed other people.
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 Louisville when something unusual happened. Merton had spent years in a Trappist monastery in rural Kentucky pursuing silence, prayer, and the inner
A collection of reflections and resources on loneliness, social isolation, solitude, friendship, belonging, and human connection in later life. Loneliness in later life can arrive suddenly. A spouse dies. A marriage ends. Retirement removes the people and routines that once filled the week. A move leaves
“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
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. A good pun, if it holds, does more than play with words. It carries two meanings at once and lets them