By JIM McKEEVER We create false worlds to survive. I guess this has always been the case, human nature and all. But as humanity and collective empathy crumble around us, the false worlds we create have become more apparent. And more dangerous. How much time, energy and money do we devote to things that distract …
By JIM McKEEVER This summer’s projects around the house have renewed my respect for those who do manual labor — the kind that some people refer to as “unskilled.” Whether the term is used as an insult or as a lazy, clueless adjective doesn’t matter. It’s just plain wrong. These thoughts came to mind, appropriately …
By JIM McKEEVER I’ve long been a practitioner of “thin-slicing,” making assessments of a person within the first few minutes of an encounter. Author Malcolm Gladwell popularized the term in his 2005 book, “Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking.” I immediately go through my mental checklist of the person’s politics, values, income level, their …
By JIM McKEEVER The blue and yellow flags of Ukraine that flew so proudly in our communities last year have faded. Many have disappeared from front porches, yards and windows. I guess we’re tired of reading and hearing about the war, more than a year after Vladimir Putin invaded the sovereign nation next door. (Perhaps …
Editor’s note: Five additional portraits are below McLaughlin’s essay. By BILL McLAUGHLIN Many years ago while working on environmental issues and getting quite angry at the political and corporate entities that were contaminating the air and groundwater in the rural area where I was living, an experienced activist and dear friend gave me some advice …
By JIM McKEEVER Our hurry-up society provides plenty of tests of civility and decency — mundane, everyday experiences and encounters that reveal a great deal about who we are as individuals and as a community. Coffee shop lines. Grocery store shopping carts. Red lights and stop signs. How are we doing? That’s hard to quantify. …
By JIM McKEEVER It was a few minutes after the pizza joint opened at 11 a.m. on a dreary Monday morning in Middle America. I pulled the rental SUV into a parking space in the the empty lot, transferred a $5 bill from my wallet to my front pocket and pulled up a photo of …
By JIM McKEEVER The woman eases herself into a chair across from a man in the waiting room, sets her walker aside and goes into detail about her many surgeries. “I’ve been cut 24 times,” she says, launching into a laundry list of diseases, including diabetes, renal failure, fibromyalgia. She says she is 57, grew …
By MIKE DONOHUE I spend a lot of time grousing like the elderly Irish curmudgeon I am, but the truth is I’m a pretty happy guy. There are really only a few things in life I hate — discrimination, injustice, and baking Christmas cookies. The first are givens, but the cookies need a bit of …
By JIM McKEEVER I heard many stories during a recent “water drop” in the desert with Border Kindness, a not-for-profit humanitarian aid organization in southern California. One in particular told by a fellow volunteer will stay with me. The story marked the beginning of the 34-year-old man’s transformation a quarter-century ago. As a young boy …
Sense of Decency 