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Inherited Wealth
Recently, on my online newsfeed, I saw an article that asked the readers if it is ethical to pass your wealth on to your children. I confess, I didn’t read it. Why would I? It’s not a problem that I’ll ever have. My parents didn’t have much money to pass on to me, and I…
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Contaminated Connections
I remember sitting on my couch with an old friend in Florida. We were having a pleasant chat, just as we had done dozens of times before. Then he looked out the screen door toward the park across the street and said something disgusting and hateful and racist about the guys who were playing basketball…
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A Moral Thought Experiment
The other night around 11 pm I was driving to work. I was on a dark, deserted commercial street, and I had stupidly left my cell phone on my night stand at home. I was preoccupied with my current predicament, which is how on earth I’m going to make next month’s rent. (I still haven’t…
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The Judgment Trend
Lately I’ve seen a lot of stories about people who try to force their beliefs on others by attempting to punish them in some way. People leaving nasty notes instead of tips, saying they can’t tip someone because they don’t approve of their lifestyle, or leaving them a religious tract instead of a tip. Yeah,…
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The Man Who Has Everything
I know a millionaire. He’s a good businessman; in fact, he’s hyper-successful. He came from humble beginnings and has had to hustle to get to the top, but hustle he did. No one can say he hasn’t worked very hard to get where he is. He knows how to read people. A charming fellow, he’s…
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“I think those two are funny.”
A friend of mine has a new boyfriend. I got to meet him the other day. Nice looking young man. He had the sweetest smile I’ve ever seen. He seems to be a will-o’-the-wisp, though. He’s very artistic and quite the free spirit. I doubt he’d thrive in a committed relationship, but I don’t think…
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Learning your Lessons
Every one of us has certain lessons to learn throughout his or her life. Some lessons we are doomed to repeat over and over again. Other lessons impact us on such fundamental levels that it only takes one time to get the message. It doesn’t always feel very good when we get schooled, but like…
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The Definition of Integrity
The dictionary defines it thus: in·teg·ri·ty [in-teg-ri-tee] noun 1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. It is the quality I admire most in a human being, and when I see a lack of this quality I’m always shocked and horrified. It takes courage to stand up for what you know…
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Chaos: The New Normal?
A coworker of mine was describing a situation in which he and his brother were watching TV and they got into an argument which then escalated into a fist fight, and the police had to be called. Just a regular Tuesday night at Chez Coworker, apparently. I remember thinking, “Huh. My whole life, the police…
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Is There a Moral Tipping Point?
It’s quiet here on the river tonight, and a pea soup fog is obscuring my view. It’s the perfect time for reflection. At times like this my mind tends to wander. I was thinking about a story that a coworker told me many, many years ago that has haunted me ever since. When he was…