On a recent ordinary morning, I was standing inside a Starbucks ordering some coffee when a raggedy, scruffy, grungy-looking guy who was probably in his late 30s stepped up to the adjoining counter. You could feel everyone in his immediate presence tense up. He looked directly at the barista. Then, in a loud and clear voice he declared, “You are the proud winner of the grand prize of a brand new……………DAY.” Everyone broke out laughing. Standing side-by-side with him, I said, “A brand new day is the grand prize, that’s great. No......
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When we open our computers, it’s our doors we shut,” is the central message in “Look Up,” a viral video eschewing the use of social media, computers and phones when living and experiencing life. I appreciate what it speaks to, but I cannot help noticing the profound irony that without social media, this message doesn’t get shared. In fact, when this video travels across social media – and it’s been seen by over 20 million people – it’s typically under the headline that it “must be seen by everybody!” Am I the......
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If there’s one thing religion has historically been good at, and its clergy and institutions used for, it is death management. Well, these days, with “None” the fastest growing religious identification? (more than 20% of all Americans, and more than 30% of those under age 32, so identified) it shouldn’t be surprising that close to a third of all funerals in America happen without any clergy. Obviously, people are having funerals and mourning for loved ones. So what are they doing? Rather than engage religious authorities and institutions – the “cathedrals” –......
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Have you even wondered why March Madness – seemingly just a series of college basketball games played by athletes, the vast majority of whom we will never hear about again – captures our imagination in a way unparalleled by any other major American sports tournament? Here is my Elite Eight list of reasons: Passion – Players are not playing for money (even if schools are) and you can feel the intensity, sacrifice, hard work, energy, and love that capture the meaning of amateur – “lover of”. Community – Between university bands, insane......
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Ever been in a position when you needed someone to cover for you? To do something you should have done yourself but, for whatever reason, could not? Of course you have! We all have. Perhaps you planned to bring a sick friend some soup, but asked someone else to deliver it for you because you got too busy to finish the good deed. Maybe you arranged for someone else to take care of your kids for a while because you were delayed. In those cases, someone covered for you, which is great,......
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In case you missed them earlier in the week, here are the top three stories from The Wisdom Daily for the week ending September 27, 2013. 1. 3D Character Printing: Building Better People “Imagine a gathering of over ?”400 innovators, troublemakers, entrepreneurs inventors and transformation artists” where for a couple of days, thirty-two story-tellers from around the world from every field share their wisdom. ?Well this is BIF#9, the BIF Summit in Providence, Rhode Island ? and I was as one of the storytellers. ?It was crazy, inspiring, creative, playful,......
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Does it make sense to blame devastating floods in CO on the fact that State House Majority Leader Mark Ferrandino and his partner were kissing in public, and that the Denver Post covered their kiss?? Pastor Kevin Swanson certainly thinks so, and so did his radio co-host Dave Buehner.? Could they be onto something? Now before anyone starts screaming; let me explain what I mean, and why I think it may be useful to take their question seriously, even if I find their conclusion pretty much repulsive. I start from the premise......
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Relationships & Family, Wisdom Warehouse |
September 12, 2013
Does Poverty Destroy Families, or Is it the Demise of Family that Increases Poverty?
We know that the gaps in both earning and in education are widening in America.? A new Ohio State University study by Zhenchao Qian, Divergent Paths of American Families, suggests that the two are closely related: those possessing better educations and greater earnings are more likely to live in two parent stable families, and those with less education and money are less likely to get married, or stay married, and have kids being raised by only one, or even no, parents. The analysis and commentary of the study run toward the assumption......
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“It’s 11 o’clock. Do you know where your children are?” It sounds quaint by today standards; my 21-year-old came home at 4:15 the other… morning. But the question of who is responsible for our children remains a serious one, hinted at in the recent controversy over an ad in which MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry argues the U.S. should invest more in public education. America doesn’t invest enough in public education because “we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children,” she says. Harris-Perry laments insufficient appreciation for child-rearing’s communal nature, saying......
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