14Dec 2012 by CJ

Sandy Hook Elementary School Victims – our hearts are with you

Information & Education, Life & Living, Love & Relationships, Youth
My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who lost loved ones at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut today. My wife is a school teacher and I’d be a liar to say that every time I hear the mention of a school shooting, I cringe. I cannot imagine what those who lost someone near and dear to them must be going through – at Christmas time no less. What a truly senseless tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. If the shooter wanted to take his own life, he certainly didn’t have to take anyone else’s in the process. This horrific crime just reinforces why it is so very important to live each and every day to the fullest. When you go home tonight, wrap…
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11Dec 2012 by CJ

Died within hours of each other – people you can’t live without

Life & Living, Youth
I came across this story while surfing the net the other day. “Long-Married Couple, Melvin and Doris Cornelson, Died Within Hours of Each Other” They enjoyed 62 loving years of marriage. Last week, Kansas couple Melvin and Doris Cornelson died within hours of each other, reports local news station KWCH. Melvin, 85, suffering from cancer, died with his wife by his side.Hours later, Doris, 80, lay down for a nap and never woke up. “They never dated anyone else," the couple's daughter, Candi Sawatzky, told KWCH. "They're happy. I know they are.” I’ve read about stories such as this one before, and each time I’m amazed at news station KWCH. How a heart knows that it simply cannot go on without the love of another is testament that once you…
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15Oct 2012 by CJ

My resignation from the hypocrites at Catholic Church

Life & Living, Youth
It’s been a long time since I’ve stepped foot inside a Catholic Church – unless of course you count the Christmas Eves when my wife and I just went to enjoy the holiday music. In truth, I’ve given up on the Catholic Church a long time ago – ever since the sexual abuse scandal in which priests were allowed to roam free, even though every day citizens would’ve been criminally charged with prison time. I don’t accept hypocrisy in anyone closest to me and I certainly don’t accept it in my religion. I recently read that the Archbishop of Newark, one John J. Myers, released a 16-page statement on the archdiocesan website - vehemently denying his churches support for civil same-sex marriage equality, sadly comparing it to incest. If you’re…
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16Sep 2012 by CJ

Gossiping – a wise man knows better than to engage in it

Life & Living, Youth
Today, while listening to the sermon at my wife’s church, I was struck by some profound words the pastor himself had learned from his father many years ago about gossiping. A wise man talks about ideas… An average man talks about events… A simple man talks about other people. Which category do you fall into? Sadly, so many of us spend much of our viable time talking about the lives of others as though we’ve been given the authority to do so. If only we could harness that power and use it for the greater good of humanity and ultimately for ourselves, image the kind of world we’d be living in. Believe me, I’m just as guilty as the next. But there comes a point in your life when you…
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04Sep 2012 by CJ

Good teachers often leave a lasting impact on your life

Information & Education, Life & Living, Youth
“Good” Teachers by Charles Saydah is an editorial which surprised me. I suspected it would be much of the same – lumping a sea of respectable teachers in a pool of underachievers. But I’m happy to admit I was wrong. Saydah speaks of his English teacher back in the New York Public School System, Jacob Solovay, as “A supremely controlled man, his knowledge, kindness, generosity, supportiveness and patience appealed to his students. Our school had created a sophomore English class to develop writers and editors for the school paper. It must have been the ideal class for a teacher: motivated, smart kids engaged in a creative, mercantile task. As an adolescent, I sensed that it would be impossible to be a bad teacher under such conditions.” He and a few…
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