“Predictions are hard,” said the sage yogi Berra, “especially about the future.” I agree with that rule, and follow it, mostly. Yet sometimes there are exceptions — predictions that are easy. Like this one:
From the book, Without Apology: A Friends meeting hosted an interfaith conference. During a break, the meeting’s Clerk fell to talking with a priest, a rabbi and an imam about the nature of God. Despite everyone’s good intentions, they soon began to argue: God was a trinity, contended the priest; oh no, the imam retorted, … Continue reading Much to Be Modest About, Friends . . .
Eleven years ago, I was nearing the end of my time as Director of Quaker House, the Friends peace project in Fayetteville NC, near Fort Bragg. Our newsletter for that summer devoted most of its front page to Afghanistan, and the seemingly “invisible/forever” war there. That war is no longer invisible, and at least the … Continue reading Deja Vu All Over Again: A Glimpse of Afghanistan in 2010
It was the headline that caught me: “Shocking and Ominous Talk,” it blared. Really? Such language was rare in the Selma Times Journal (STJ), but I found it there, on the editorial page of the New Year’s Day edition, for January 1, 1965. The Alabama headline shone up at me from a cloudy gray background, … Continue reading Back to my Future: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Wherever, Forever . . .