In an attempt to create systemic justice, communists took my family’s land away in post-revolution Russia (in the region that is now Ukraine). My people (Mennonites) had been given the land by Catherine the Great because it was politically convenient for her to have safe, loyal farmers there. This put […]
I have come to hate the word “disruption.” I used to like it, thinking it might point toward some positive social revolution – echoes of Jesus or Gandhi or Marx (depending on one’s leaning) might come to mind – but it seems to me that all that is being disrupted […]
Tapping into the right kind of energy to motivate and encourage our engagement with the world is crucial. If we’re to avoid the “dark energy” that I wrote about last week, without running out of steam all together, we’ll need to tap into something life-giving and energizing. There was a […]
It seems to me that life is designed to be lived in the sweet spot. My first memory of the term comes from golf in which the “sweet spot” refers to that part of the face of the club that results in the perfect feel of the swing and response […]
Movies, and perhaps childrens’ movies in particular, often seem to have evil corporations or evil CEOs as the villain these days. Makes sense. It seems reasonable to suggest that huge corporations are among the greatest forces of evil and the biggest threat to all that is human. You won’t get […]
If displacement is the word we kept hearing when looking at the struggles of the people, accompaniment is the word that marked the path of those seeking to help. Having been separated from so many of their resources, displaced people need others to walk alongside them, assisting them in restoring […]
We seem to forget this choosing as we let ourselves be lulled into drifting along. More and more, faster and faster, we give away our humanity and our place in the natural world. We forget that we are inspired bodies, meant to dig and gather to satisfy our hunger, meant […]
[an excerpt from my book, first written one New Years Day, to remind myself of all the reasons to keep walking as much as possible] Why Walking Will Save You It brings you into solidarity with people across time, across the world, across all people groups. It slows you down. […]