With its backfield of “Mr. Inside & Mr. Outside,” Army football in the 1940s proved to be innovative. That’s instructive, as many companies talk about innovation yet few include a Mr. Outside. With only half a backfield, it’s unlikely they’ll be innovative.
On this date in 1582 – February 24 – Pope Gregory XIII announced the Gregorian calendar. You learn this by googling “This Day in History.” And if you google it on a regular basis, you’ll discover a society cut adrift from its traditional moorings.
Audrey Assad is a songwriter with a sober intensity to her stage presence. So writes David Brooks. But what Brooks finds most fascinating is how Assad, raised in a New World faith tradition, is going backward in time toward the Old World. She’s not alone.
Fifty years ago last night – February 9, 1964 – the Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was the culmination of a half-century of cultural changes, making early 1964 a genuine tipping point launching the British Invasion.
Know any “me too” people? They ask about your kids and within five seconds are telling you all about their kids. You mention a trip and they chime in with “we went there too.” “Me too” is a growing phenomenon in America. It ought to be a growing concern.
On October 31, 2010, a dozen Islamist gunmen murdered some 60 Christians. John L. Allen Jr. has written about martyrdom, noting that there are about 100,000 modern-day martyrs each year. He wonders why the West seems to care so little about this.
Now that Colorado and Washington have made selling marijuana legal, the question is whether this signals anything of significance. Oliver Sacks thinks so. He smoked pot in the Sixties. Now he denounces it as a shortcut.
In 2005 Larry King asked Billy Graham if “gay people are lesser.” Graham replied “it’s just one of many sins.” He felt the church has bigger fish to fry. Last week I made the same recommendation. A few readers asked for a few more fish. Here they are.
When asked about the status of gay priests, Pope Francis surprised reporters. “Who am I to judge?” Some see his reply as a sign of acceptance – others, acquiescence. There’s another possibility, however. It might be that the church has bigger fish to fry.
We may joke about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) but it affects up to 15 percent of the population. Readers of C. S. Lewis might see SAD as more than a laughing matter. It could be one of many “signals of transcendence” that point to a greater reality.