“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall rise up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 President John F. Kennedy’s favorite Bible passage There are many lessons learned from these Winter Olympics. The participants inspire with their skill level, their dedication and hard work, and commitment to excellence. Years ago, it was the Olympics that inspired me to get back to running.

There is the adage that “it is better to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.” This ethical controversial action is meant to be used in situations where swift action is better than asking for approval where emergencies can be made more harmful than immediate bold action. Doctors in emergency rooms are an example where time is of the essence. It is also used in business, management, and technology to promote innovation when a decision is required to move throu

When Chaplain at EA, I would get to my office at 7 to check over email and conflicts that were included. There are times when I met with parents at 7:30. During one of these mornings as I went to unlock my office, I heard a voice calling me from the conference room across the hall. It was a parent in her Pajamas. She had her two children who were EA students in tow. She couldn’t even wait to get dressed to address her concern. She was very angry about how the school had treat

Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, gave a stirring address at the January 26 World Economic Forum in Davos describing a rupture in the rules-based natural order of things as they now stand. My son, Thaddeus Squire, describes the nature of the rupture and the way forward in the following essay. Thaddeus is a graduate of the Episcopal Academy, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton, and holds degrees from the University of Leipzig as a J. William Fullbirght Scholar and the

I Kings 19:12 “The Lord was not in the fire, but after the fire a still small voice.” Recall that I have indicated that when someone came to my office to discuss a problem, it is also helpful if they thought of possible solutions so they can be empowered by coming up with solutions on their own. My last blog dealt with the conversational style that is unhelpful in building bridges as it focuses on winning an argument with gotcha questions. These are questions that are used fr

One of the Bishops of Pennsylvania that I was close to was Lyman Ogilby. His father was one time President of Trinity College. He wanted our family to see his home in Maryland when we were frustrated with looking for land to build a home. He invited us down to his place on the Chesapeake. We loved the view of the Chesapeake as homes sat up on a bluff surrounded by woods. He arranged for a real estate agent to meet us that afternoon. We built the home ourselves and became one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6V2eNplvmA

During the Super Bowl I was kidding Vicki that I couldn’t wait to see Bad Bunny. (Just a quick diversion and commentary on the game. I enjoyed every minute to see the aphorism in real time that defense wins games. I remember my days on the practice squad for our football team; we were always on defense where fame went to those on offense. We would get up after each play and shake the dust off literally as there was more dirt on the practice field than grass by mid-season, whi

Most of us are aware of the science experiment where a frog is put in a beaker of water and the flame underneath is gradually increased. It happens so gradually that the frog never jumps out. It boils to its death. That is a good description of America, the frog, in the gradual heated water that is the lack of response to Trump’s terrible behavior. Trump once said that he could kill someone on fifth avenue and no one would arrest him. That should have been the first clue of w

It is very difficult to get a room of articulate high-powered adolescents to agree on much. Hence, in my Ethics class there was a lot of robust conversation about controversial topics. There were just two guidelines, don’t speak when someone else is speaking and no ad hominin accusations where you are attacking the person and not the issue. During one unit in the course, I made the comment that I am sure that all of us in this room set up our decisions to avoid rejection, gu

My Duke Colleagues and Supervisors When I arrived at Berkeley at Yale, one of the first people that I met was a distance runner who was nationally recognized. We became close friends because of similar backgrounds. He was from Harlem and graduated from Wesleyan University. His running partner was Erich Segal who taught the Classics at Yale and was famous for the novel and movie, Love Story. It is a story of two people who met while in college. The woman played by Ali MacGraw

Mike Sielski, a sport columnist for the Inquirer , wrote an interesting column about the personality of Nick Siriani. He is one of Howie Roseman’s favorite coaches. The sportswriter reflected that the most important part of Siriani’s personality is his greatest weakness as he is often too emotional and impulsive. He grew up in a small town in western New York where his father was a football a coach for nine years at Southwest Central High School. Siriani was an assistant coac