Grace and Guilt Michael Jinkins Within ten minutes I read in the paper two stories about guilt and COVID-19: In the first, a woman in New Orleans expressed guilt that her beloved husband had not gotten the funeral he deserved. He was a business owner renowned for his generosity toward people who couldn’t afford […]
Healthy Families Michael Jinkins Research that has stood the test of time deserves reflection. And one piece of research I came across several years ago reported that healthy families tend to be the ones in relationship with other families and individuals. Unhealthy families tend to keep to themselves. Since this study was first reported in […]
Tears for a Tyrant Michael Jinkins According to ancient texts collected by Macrobius, when Augustus Caesar heard that Herod, who was called “king of the Jews,” included his own son in a slaughter of all boys under the age of two in Syria, Augustus joked, “It is better to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s […]
Binge Reading Michael Jinkins Recently Bob Vorhoff sent me an excellent Washington Post column by George Will titled “What we lost when we stopped reading.” The column referenced a journal article by Adam Garfinkle on “Deep Literacy.” I highly recommend both essays and am grateful to Bob for sending them to me. In […]
In Praise of Ignorance Michael Jinkins Everybody is ignorant. It’s true. Everyone is ignorant. And it is nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s a very big world. Much bigger than anyone can know. And the relatively intelligent understand that there’s lots they don’t know. Which means that there’s lots more out there to […]
A Twitcher’s Field Guide to Ordinary Birds Michael Jinkins Twitcher’s (as birdwatchers are known) are famous for traveling the world for a chance to see a rare bird. They may hazard a perilous boat trip or helicopter landing on a rocky island just to glimpse some species that has gotten mixed up and blown […]
My Grandmother’s Bible Michael Jinkins Until her death at the age of ninety, my maternal grandmother was the most important influence in my life. Her warmth, intelligence, and good humor, were balanced with a healthy sense of right and wrong (she had a devilish swing with a hedge switch) and a deep faith. She […]
Cabin Fever Michael Jinkins We’ve all had the experience, especially when we are alone for awhile, of our minds playing old recordings and showing us old videos of past failures, regrets, moments that embarrassed us or made us feel ashamed. You know how it goes. And now, more than in normal times, anxieties tend […]
Cherish is the Word Michael Jinkins This blog was written a few weeks ago when Debbie and I were in the mountains of North Carolina. It was right after our trip to France was cancelled, toward the beginning of the novel corona virus pandemic. A lot of things have changed since then, but I […]
All Shall be Well Michael Jinkins Julian of Norwich might be considered the patron saint of pandemics. The Black Death, which emerged repeatedly during the Middle Ages, cut a swath through her part of England in the year 1349 killing roughly one third of the population. She was a child then, and must have […]