The US has a deeply embedded gun culture beginning from its very founding as a nation from war, armies, and guns. As such gun ownership has become and will remain an integral part of the culture of large swaths of US society with a negligible probability of elimination. This week’s…

I visited my cousin Winnie recently. She is a kindergarten para educator for children on the spectrum, and she got Covid-19 not so long ago. She exemplifies what teaching staff and many other underappreciated essential workers do to make the rest of us keep going! Long time ago I wrote…

Can I succeed in this line of work? Are there people who are like me at this place? Those are apparently two questions most of us ask of ourselves from school age to later years, at least subconsciously, as we make decisions on our career and other choices. I have…

The catastrophic, yet avoidable war that is unfolding in Ukraine is one born of many miscalculations and has left the country in ruins. In three weeks, about three million refugees have fled Ukraine, half of them children. Another three million have been displaced within the country. …

Hope you had a splendid Valentine’s Day! Here is a bit about tips and tulips. Earlier this week, we were at a local coffee place where the baristas share ownership and serve. Being regulars, we were chatting with the barista. We were noticing three one-dollar bills left by the register…

“You have to experience what it takes to achieve something difficult, because you learn a lot in the process,” said one of my good friends at a dinner at our home many years ago. My friend, an accomplished yet an unassuming professor, explained, “That learning is more important than whether…

Monday, Jan 17, 2022, is MLK Day holiday in America. If you have never heard Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 17-minute speech in its entirety or read a complete transcript and reflected on his words, here is your chance. MLK gave the speech in 1963, a hundred years after the signing…

Should we or should we not give? It is a question we face more frequently than we should. As often as it arises, the question remains unresolved in many minds. We ponder if our giving helps or hurts the society as a whole or the individual. If we give to…

The pandemic has taught people and countries across the world one single lesson repeatedly: Until the virus is eradicated everywhere, it is eradicated nowhere. The virus will mutate. Current vaccines will be largely effective but will not be foolproof. …