gratitude 27

Tributary streams remind us that every attitude flows to the sea. Our reactions to the streams of today’s circumstances feed the rivers of our everyday attitudes.

Perhaps this crisis, while revealing the fragility of many aspects of American society, can at the same time provide opportunities for a recovery.

Moore insists that his book about farming is not exclusively about rural places: “the point is not even about farming . . . most of what I’ve said in this…

I was not on board the FPR train early enough to be considered one of its engineers. I met Mark Mitchell at a conference in New Mexico, and heard him…

What you miss out on by not making the climb is too great a loss on such a morning as this.

What are the compensations on the downhill side of life?

Earlier this year, after the Charlie Hebdo shootings, I reflected on the conversations that may or may not ensue from the changing of a facebook profile picture.  As my facebook…

“It’s no easy task—indeed it’s very difficult—to realize that in every soul there is an instrument that is purified and rekindled by such subjects [liberal studies] when it has been…

“Nothing is better for man than a good wife...” Hesiod, Works and Days One might wonder whether that is an overstatement. It was once suggested to me that Thanksgiving is…

“When the oak-tree is felled, the whole forest echoes with it; but a hundred acorns are planted silently by some unnoticed breeze.” Thomas Carlyle That time of year is almost…

“The greatest benefits will not bind the ungrateful.” Aesop’s Fables The farmer, finding a frozen snake, pitied him and placed him in his bosom to thaw. The revived snake, unmoved…

This is what we all need now: a deep belly-laugh.

Here is an excerpt from my recently published book: The Politics of Gratitude: Scale, Place and Community in a Global Age. American politics is broken. One of the few things…

He was looking at me with what appeared to be some degree of disbelief.

I’m struck at the vanity of those impious folks infatuated with their ability to improve the situation without having first served a long apprenticeship under the tutelage of the old.…

Do you love America? If so, how much? Do you wear an American flag on your lapel (and look askance on those who don’t)? Do you drive only American cars?…

The New York Times recently ran a précis of a book by Eric Klinenberg, a professor of sociology at New York University and the author of Going Solo: The Extraordinary…

If you are planning to run for president, here’s a word of advice: you must assert regularly and with great conviction your belief in American Exceptionalism. This seems especially true…

What if every day was given to rest, eating, and relaxation?

The hubris of ingratitude is a caustic acid that reduces all in its wake to the fetid condition of servitude, for a spoiled child needs nothing so much as a…

He discovered that he could solve the dependence on loan sharks in one village with a mere $27 in capital. For a man who was used to working in millions…

Rock Island, IL A century ago in New England, the approach to snow was quite different. When snow began to fly, people switched to runners. Roads were not plowed out,…

Kearneysville, WV. When speaking of the proper care for the natural world, the word that best describes our efforts is stewardship. Stewards are care-takers. They lovingly guide, protect, and cultivate…

Holland, MI. Like many readers, or perhaps more accurately, like many readers with children, I read with great interest Mark Mitchell’s piece on “Cultivating Gratitude.” As the father of three…