Author Archives: John Swinburn

Yield to it, indulge yourself in the experience you seek.

If you sit alone long enough, in a room with a pleasant view over a verdant valley pocked with lakes and ponds, you’ll conclude that problems with people and their personalities don’t matter. The room and the view and the solitude will … Continue reading →

Listen more, talk less, empathize more, judge less, forgive more, blame less. At least that’s the plan. But plans tend to change, don’t they?

My immediate reaction, when I heard a couple of days ago that a “sequel” to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is coming out was elation. Then, I learned yesterday that there is serious concern that she is being duped … Continue reading →

If you have never eaten abalone, you have missed out on one of the joys of life. It has been years since I’ve had abalone. I feel the need to have it again. Hawaii is said to be one of … Continue reading →

Lacking the patience to do a job one does not want to do is perfectly fine, provided the job does not need doing.  Otherwise, the first step in accomplishing the necessary task is to find a source of patience sufficient … Continue reading →

Expediency. The word suggests to me self-interest and a general disregard for morality and justice. But that’s not always the way it is used.  Many who use the word ignore its permeating overtones of immorality and injustice; instead, they use it as a … Continue reading →

The best way to be welcomed into all social circles is to keep your beliefs and opinions to yourself.  But that’s also known as cowardice. Midway between coward and doctrinaire is a happy medium, though “happy” may be stretching it.

At what point does one begin to feel guilt at violating a moral standard or compromising personal integrity? I suppose it varies with the individual, but that suggests a crack in the moral code, doesn’t it; isn’t morality by definition a … Continue reading →

Almost one-twelfth of the year has passed.  What do you have to show for it?  What plans have you solidified?  What steps have you taken; not talked about, taken? My answers to those questions are deeply unsatisfying.

The only way to learn whether hope can arise from the ashes of despair is to incinerate despair, which is a task of almost unimaginable scope and breadth in a world saddled with greed, poverty, starvation, and religion-fueled psychosis.