While sipping tea in Ireland, I was reminded how history lessons sometimes meld into the here and now. Old wounds, old scars, old conflicts... sad history lessons learned or re-learned in Europe became reminders of what we face today. My husband and I recently went to Scotland, Italy, and Ireland. Lovely places with incredible historic sites and stories. We realized how young our country really is by comparison. But, like Gettysburg and other sites of war here in the US, th

We have just experienced another horrifying attack on a group of innocent people. Like stars in the sky, there have been too many to count. It is becoming common. It is happening with such frequency, and people are de-sensitizing. That's even worse. Where is the outrage? The trucker plowing into a crowd of Bastille Day celebrants is just as awful as the nightclub mass killing or the shopping mall/schools and theater shootings or bombs detonated during a marathon or in town

The dictionary defines the word "empathy" as "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another." Having empathy for me means to be there and to stand up for someone after a loss or tragic event. I envision standing up steady like tall trees that grow straight and true. Every time I read about or hear about a friend who has suffered the death of a loved one my heart physically aches. I try to avoid movies, television shows, and books that feature a dying child espe