Posts tagged as:

9/11

MARATHON : any contest, event, or the like, of great, or greater than normal, length or duration or requiring exceptional endurance

April 16, 2013

When the bombs went off in Boston on Patriots Day the Boston Marathon was well into its concluding hours.   The winners had come across the finish line a long time ago, and now the “other” winners … those who completed the 26.2 mile course … were surging across the finish line, having seen the attainment [...]

Read the full article →

XENOPHOBIA [zen-uh-FOH-bee-uh] : fear or unreasonable dislike of foreigners

November 2, 2012

Our family has hosted seven foreign exchange students over the years, and our younger daughter was a Rotary Exchange student for a year in another country. We have also traveled extensively throughout the world where we have experienced cultures dramatically different from our own.  So the idea that anyone has a fear of, or dislike [...]

Read the full article →

911: “What is your emergency?”

February 29, 2012

“911.  What is your emergency?”                                                                                                                                   “I need to report a theft.” And so the drama begins, as I spill out  the confused and unbelievable story of the intentional and dastardly act of the pilferage of a beloved item in my life:  a day.  The woman at the 911 office is appropriately bewildered , struggling to [...]

Read the full article →

TEEMING: swarming, overflowing

January 6, 2012

There’s a huge difference between the meaning of the words crowded and teeming.   It has to do with the feeling of the situation. A funeral home may be crowded with mourners or a bus stop may be crowded with commuters.  It means that there is a large group of people in a place that may [...]

Read the full article →

“ALL THE COMPANY OF HEAVEN”: a euphemism for all those who have died

September 12, 2011

In the liturgy of  The Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church in the United States there is a phrase used when the Priest who is celebrating the liturgy of Holy Communion says, “…and so, with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of Heaven….” It is meant to indicate that what is [...]

Read the full article →

CATALYST: something that inspires a change in direction

August 16, 2011

It only takes a word, a speech, a performance,  a brave action, or a stupid action to trip the wire and get something started.  The shooting death of an Austrian leader started a war.  The arrival of the Beatles on the scene started a paradigm change in popular music.  A key hanging on a kite’s [...]

Read the full article →

THE COMMON GOOD & MY PERSONAL GAIN

November 21, 2010

I attended an event last evening at which the speaker was The Rev. Dr. James Forbes, Senior Pastor Emeritus at the famous Riverside Church in New York City.   It is not the first time I have heard him speak; each time he has me at the words, “Good evening, Brothers and Sisters.” There are always [...]

Read the full article →

GROUND ZERO: the point on the earth’s surface where an explosion occurs

August 17, 2010

Prior to 9/11/01 the term ground zero was a generic term, primarily military, which referred to any point on the earth’s surface beneath which a designated explosion took place.  It was first used, according to Wikipedia, to refer to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since 2001, however, the term has become synonymous with that [...]

Read the full article →