My Grandfather’s Letters

As a child, I was very close with my grandfather. He grew up in Milwaukee, and was the first in his family to go to college.

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After two and a half years in college, he entered medical school. He fought in World War II, came home and lived the American dream. 

One day, when my parents were out of town and I was staying with him, and we got into talking about his life and career. 

He started pulling outletters—boxes and boxes of letters. Now he lived in a small apartment, but he had saved all these boxes.
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Can You Feel It in Your Bones?

The word independence in Hebrew is etzma’ut. It is connected to the word etzem, which means bone. What is the connection between these two ideas—bones and independence?

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The answer is found in writings of John Locke. He was the British political philosopher who most influenced Thomas Jefferson and America’s other founding fathers.

Locke said property rights emerge out of our ownership of our bodies. Independence begins within our own bones.

From that truth emerges the idea of individual freedom. No one can enslave another human being because our bodies and the labor they produce belong to us. Continue reading

bearing burden

If You Want to Be Happier, Practice Forgiveness

A poor man was wandering from town to town with a heavy load of all his earthly possessions on his back.

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A wagon driver saddled up next to him and offered to give him a ride to the next town. The relieved pauper complied.

After a few miles, the wagon driver stopped for a rest. He looked back into his wagon and saw that the man was still carrying the load on his back.

“Why are you still carrying your load? You can put it down in the wagon!” Continue reading

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