Burn it down?
Author Michael Meade said something like, “If a young person is not initiated into the warmth of their culture, they will burn their culture down just to experience warmth.” PICTURE: Guido Jansen/Unsplash This goes a long way to explain the current youth crime wave we are experiencing – we have lots of unloved young people […]
Pope says tension and debate are inevitable, embrace them
Verona, Italy Reuters Arguments and tensions are inevitable in modern society and should not be brushed under the carpet, Pope Francis said on Saturday, warning that trying to impose a uniform vision fostered frustration and violence. Addressing a peace gathering in a Roman amphitheatre in the northern Italian city of Verona, the Pope said people […]
Earn, give, save
In the 1700s John Wesley preached a sermon where he encouraged people to earn, save, and give all they could. Back then there was no pension, no sick pay. No unemployment benefits. No government welfare, government hospitals, or government schools. A statue of John Wesley in London, UK. PICTURE: David Adams You needed to save as you never knew when you […]
Two lives?
Psychologists tell us that most of us live two lives. ILLUSTRATION: BrianAJackson/iStockphoto The first life is where we chase success – material and otherwise, believing that riches, fame, status, attention will bring us happiness. Then something like divorce, disease, death, drugs or other disaster brings dissolution to such beliefs. This is hard. Some people just give […]
Righteous mind
Jonathan Haidt’s mind-blowing book The Righteous Mind looks at the research around morality and why we vote the way we do. PICTURE: Hannah Busing/Unsplash His compelling research says that left-leaning voters put compassion and fairness above all considerations when working out their morality, while conservatives value sanctity, loyalty and authority. His research shows that we need […]