Mark's Blog
Misinformation: A Misguided Way to Create Safety
“How do we build bridges across political difference when there is so much misinformation and disinformation coming at people which captures their attention? How can we have conversations when facts are denied and false narratives become more commonplace?” This was...
Honoring, But Not Owning, Our Original Blessing
Donald Trump has been blessed, a blessing that began long before an assassination attempt that nearly took his life. Joe Biden has been blessed, long before he made the announcement that he will end his Presidential campaign for President. Kamala Harris has been...
The Dread of the Assassination Attempt
Like many of us, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump sent my mind racing. Who was the shooter? Why did he do it? Was security inadequate? Would former President Trump be OK? What does this mean for the election? For Republicans? For Democrats? For the...
Praying for Biden and Trump
For a good stretch of my early years, prayer was a confounding exercise. My family regularly went to church – where the congregation prayed while I dealt with itching legs from my flannel pants. We said grace before dinner, which invariably became a contest over...
A Debate of Egos; the Need for the Soul
Last week I attended a debate watch party. It was held in the Carthage College chapel in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the first night of the Braver Angels Convention, an annual event that brings equal numbers of red (conservative) and blue (progressive) and yellow...
The Ten Commandments: Laws or Guidelines
Last week the governor of Louisiana signed a law mandating that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms. In some ways I get it, in spite of the fact that like so many it challenges the constitutional separation of church and state. The Ten...
Mistrust and Trust
It was the spring of 1970. The United States had just announced that it was expanding the war in Vietnam by authorizing bombing campaigns in Cambodia. Campuses across the country erupted in protest. On May 4, four protesting students at Kent State were shot and...
Challenges to Trusting the Process
Trust the process. This was a phrase I often heard when a strategy session or a problem-solving meeting bogged down. The group would get stuck, and in frustration someone would either suggest we scrap the whole enterprise, or would start accusing a participant of...
Time and Space Needed for Grief and Mourning
“In war, death interrupts nothing. Time doesn’t stop; it seems to accelerate.” So wrote David French, in a New York Times column on May 25, 2024. A veteran of the Iraq War, French goes on to say that in battle there is no time or space for mourning the loss of a...