Ways of Seeing: ‘His will that every need be supplied’

If you ask me how I am doing these days, I don’t know how to answer. My heart is breaking for Palestine. And my heart is breaking for American Jews, many of whom have dear friends and family in Israel, who are longing for safety and security.

Rene Morin, a fine mason, built my brick house and three neighboring ones. He lived next door when we moved here in 1979.

“We are searching for King Kong!” exclaimed the small band of preschoolers who found me in the woods pulling up garlic mustard. “And when we find him, we are going to kill him with our swords!”

I think this bit of wisdom has come to me to guide the final third of my life.

It is not a “pro-Palestinian” statement, neither is it a “pro-Israel” statement. Simply put, it is pro-listening and pro-learning. It invites us to ask questions of one another, to listen to (and for) difference and to sit down and talk about it.

You could say that I owe my life to Boeing. Until the advent of Amazon and Microsoft, it was the largest employer in the Seattle area, even in the early years of World War II, as the Depression came to an end.

Driving in western Ireland is a unique experience. Although there are a few “dual carriageways,” resembling our interstates, most of the roads are small and considerably narrower than our standard roads in Vermont, and generally lacking any shoulders.

I have been pondering the relationship between policing and teaching. Initially, one might not see the two as related, but they really are quite intertwined.

When I look at the world it’s easy to feel heartbroken and paralyzed at the chaos. Granted, I’m a born pessimist, but I’m sure many of you share my despair about climate change, the war in Ukraine, the strife in Israel and Gaza, and the huge number of peo … (read more)

It has now been more than six months since the Hamas attack of October 7, and about six months since Israel began raining bombs onto the people of Gaza.

This Easter, feeling so sad about the ways of the world as well as recent personal losses, we skipped our usual family Easter. Instead, we walked across the Lake Champlain Bridge at Chimney Point on that sunny blustery day.

What? Do you hear and ask this question often? I did, too, until recently. When my daughter visited last summer, I asked her if she thought I needed hearing aids.

The hardest and most necessary work of our life is loving other beings.

Have you ever been lost? Before there were the map apps, it surely happened more frequently while driving. Hiking can be a different situation.

At age 31, I’d never worked with my hands. I experimented with hand tools as a kid at my father’s cellar workbench when he was working.