Continuing eduction needs one thing: the continuing part, the part outside formal classrooms and proctored exams. Why? Because that’s where a good education starts working. For example:
FOLLOWING ORDERS WITH FELLOW FOLLOWERS
March 6, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Following orders seems simple at face value: Someone tells someone what to do and the second someone does it. Done deal? Not so fast.
EXCITABLE BOY, THEY ALL SAID
March 5, 2025 by 2 Comments
An excitable boy at age eighteen is a good thing. I had a great year at that age. Graduated from high school, got a summer job, hitch-hiked to Iowa and back. I left town for college, then turned nineteen and joined the Army the next fall like it was school. That’s where I saw older […]
HAPPY PLACE? KEEP LOOKING
February 12, 2025 by
They say you’ll know your happy place when you get there. Who are ‘they?’ Happy people, that’s who ‘they’ are. Are they happy all the time? No, but . . .
POLITE SOCIETY WITH FINISHING SCHOOL
January 30, 2025 by
The notion of ‘Polite Society’ brings up images of well mannered, cultured people, living their best lives. It’s ‘old money’, a good vocabulary, and quiet. “I’m sorry,” leads to, “I’m so sorry,” with every other breath. What are they sorry for? As far as I can tell, they are so sorry that everyone else doesn’t […]
ON VETERANS DAY 2024
November 11, 2024 by
Veterans Day is for the old folks who remember their youth and those who were young with them. They remember the young people who didn’t have the chance to get old. My Dad got a chance to get old. He out-lived his Dad, just like I’m out-living him.
‘NOTHING TO FEAR’ WITH WINSTON CHURCHILL AND GEORGE CLOONEY
July 11, 2024 by
“Nothing to fear, nothing to see, move along.” It’s just Winston Churchill strolling in his front yard. We had a Churchill lesson at his place, then another in his London war rooms. Our dude didn’t have smooth seas on the trip to joining the immortals of history.
MAKING TIME TO SHARE TIME
July 7, 2024 by
Making time for this, for that, but we still run out of time. On the run? From a Beaverton Farmers Market morning to a Waterfront Blues Festival evening, all the different faces turned into a blur. Some faces, not all.
ARMY LESSON: SALUTE THE UNIFORM NOT THE MAN
May 28, 2024 by
The big Army lesson for me was outlined by a Drill Sergeant. We were scheduled for an inspection by one of the big guys on base, some colonel named Blackjack something or other. But Colonel Blackjack got side tracked and they brought out the butter bar from the administrative office to cover for him. It […]
BIG DECISIONS ARE TOO HARD?
Big decisions come every day, one fastball after another. In the game of life, you stand in and take your cuts. You might get on base, you might strike out. Or you might opt out of the whole thing? Wait a minute.