Thoughts on Living Well

This blog can be a guide through the complexities of today’s world. Dive into insightful commentary, timeless stories, and the rich wisdom of literature as James shares his experiences and perspectives. Whether you’re seeking solace in troubled times or simply a fresh perspective on life, you’ve found the right place.

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About

My name is James. I am a retired grandfather of two who enjoys spending time with his two grandsons to help their mom and dad guide them in navigating what seems to be an unraveling world lacking role models and persons of exemplary character.  I am starting this blog because I want to instill hope and enable people to see silver-linings in an ever-cloudier landscape.  

I have an especial interest in education and literacy, having served as tutor, advocate, and outreach coordinator for my local literacy council.  I hope that I can, in some small measure, assist readers find their voice, sharing what I have learned from a long life of lived experience.   

Starting from the premise that all politics is “downstream” from culture, and that literature is the well-spring of a healthy culture, I have discovered a wealth of wisdom to be found in testimonies from stories in history and humane letters that will instruct seekers and tame the waywardness of the human heart.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with the world and all that is taking place, and you are interested in timely commentary from a traditional perspective, you have come to the right place.  

Most Recent Post

ON HUMAN RIGHTS (PART 2)

The concept of human rights, if not centered on some grounding principle, is a mere patchwork of inharmonious preferences that incoherently tribalizes people into a Babel* of mutual incomprehensibility.  The defense of human rights needs a foundation of some substantial bedrock standard other than feeling or believing that some rights, or some people, are more important than others.  Without a bedrock principle of rights for a people**, a single people often descend into factions of incoherence.  Thus, the bellwether of human rights gets reduced to ‘soundbite’ ephemerides of shouting factions, to see who can yell the loudest and the longest ...
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ON HUMAN RIGHTS (PART 2)

The concept of human rights, if not centered on some grounding principle, is a mere patchwork of inharmonious preferences that incoherently tribalizes people into a ...
Read More

ON HUMAN RIGHTS

With the world becoming increasingly divided into civilizational ‘large spaces’, (the BRICS* group); sovereign states ‘going it alone’, (e.g., Hungary, the United States); and long-established ...
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SOURCES OF ENLIGHTENMENT IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

From my previous post on the American Revolution, I covered the nature of revolution itself.  I treated this topic as consisting of two forms: first, ...
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RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND OF AN AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY

As a woman who knows her husband very well, my wife taped a Ken Burns PBS special on Thomas Jefferson, knowing that her husband has ...
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THE GOOD SAMARITAN AS GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus said ...
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ALASDAIRE MACINTYRE: JOURNEY OF A MIND

As a blog devoted primarily to culture, I view culture as the moral repository from which all politics and economics are derived.  But culture, in ...
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