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

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, a background of historical events that move in a lineage from a common ancestral ‘cell’ leading inexorably toward revolution, in which I discuss the nature of cause; and second, the praxis of historians in their evaluation of events that constitute an epoch, in which historians of revolution regards history as a mechanism of economic, natural, political, and social causes.  Historians, as a rule, do not cover less tangible elements such as the unfolding of potentials ...
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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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WHY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? 

Although the presidential election is now over, with the “vote” in favor of the Republican candidate Donald Trump, the electoral college must still meet to ...
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ADVENT MEDITATIONS

As I pondered the subject of Advent on this unusually mild and sunny Friday afternoon, November 22, my recollections drew me back to a very ...
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