“We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as a backbone to a life spent defending something…I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it. I’d prefer you just said thank you and went on your way.”

—A Few Good Men (1992)

Hard to believe that the mid-term elections will take place […]

“By itself, the recognition that we have common hopes and dreams won’t end all the gridlock, resolve all our problems, or substitute for the painstaking work of building consensus and making the difficult compromises needed to move this country forward.”

–President Barack Obama (from his victory speech on November 7, 2012)

In a scene from The American President (I know; it’s a chick flick, but I love it), POTUS interrupts his press secretary’s daily Q&A with a soliloquy that includes the following:

“America […]

“The danger was not that I should do ill, but that I should do nothing.”

–Montaigne

Not one of us was inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas the day the gunman shot and killed nineteen young students and two teachers. What happened and why are still under investigation by the authorities, who will hopefully get to the bottom of it.

I will say this: I don’t believe those law enforcement officers or their commander got up that morning and went to work […]

“You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences, and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.”

–Annie Proulx

First, an admission. Writers write for their readers, not themselves; hence, I’m violating that dictum today. Count this as one of those “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” moments. A thousand pardons.

I just returned from five days at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers […]