THOUGHTS

My wife once heard a preacher implore, "Help me, Oh Lord, to be tolerant of other people, no matter how wrong I know them to be!" She also had an acquaintance in college who said, "I'll listen to you, but you can't make me change my mind." And I have a friend who wrote, "It may not be possible for people to understand each other." Evidently sharing ideas isn't as simple as we might hope. Nonetheless, here are some of mine. I'd be honored to hear yours.

Peace and justice, knowledge, understanding, kindness, art, and health are worth pursuing. Wisdom, love, beauty, happiness, and all forms of personal salvation come as gifts, possibly from a secret admirer.

The practical result of religious belief must be compassion.

A civilized nation should provide its citizens with a fair measure of education, health care, and opportunity, maintain a safety net, and take on as much responsibility for the rest of the world as it can.

We make unwise choices, but that's better than having them made for us.

Prejudice against other races, cultures, beliefs, and life styles is an admission of personal inadequacy. Capital punishment is a national disgrace.

Gender identity is biologically determined, like intelligence and creativity.

Our economic solutions should rely more on cooperation and good sense and less on productivity and competition.

"In wildness is the preservation of the world." Thoreau. "Reverence for life." Schweitzer. "A holy curiosity." Einstein. "We have met the enemy, and he is us." Pogo.

Our lives are a precarious adventure in biology, meaning, and value.

Why is there a universe, and why is it so strange?

Why do we care?