The Rooftop Blog- Of note. Oct. 4, 2017 October 4, 2017highs & lows observed It is homecoming week at Aurora Christian School, where Diana is a freshman, but their world has been upended by a tragic home going. Two students were in a head-on accident returning from a golf tournament … Continue reading →
- Of note. Oct. 3, 2017 October 3, 2017Highs and Lows Observed We learn and teach that you should never give up, and that if you fail, pull yourself up and try again. In my life that axiom came up hard against…plumbing. After trying to fix a leak … Continue reading →
- Of Note, Oct. 2, 2017 October 3, 2017Highs and Lows Observed The Las Vegas shooting was such base, mind-blowing, and as yet unexplained, barbarity. Not that there can be an explanation for such horrid evil. What deep sadness. We speak often of God’s love, for good … Continue reading →
- Ernie Payton: The Music Will Never Die May 1, 2017You didn’t have to spend much time with Debbie’s Dad, Lt. Col Ernest Payton (The Salvation Army), to know that his life revolved around music. Whether it was following, along with Joan, the riffs of a Big Band song on … Continue reading →
- Eulogy for my mother September 18, 2016Harriet Louise (Speer) Jewell (January 26, 1927-September 11, 2016) We celebrate through tears the crescendo of a long goodbye We gather here to celebrate our mother, grandmother, great grandmother, friend; and for the crescendo of a long goodbye. We’ve … Continue reading →
- Can 4 weeks change the trajectory of a life? October 12, 2015It’s great to discover an opportunity to make what may be a lasting difference in the life of a person who really needs to catch a break. We’ve found one, and we’d like to share it with you. Through an … Continue reading →
- Abraham Lincoln’s 2nd inaugural address: 150 years ago March 4, 2015March 4, 1865 Fellow-Countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to … Continue reading →
- Resurrection and Grief February 4, 2015My friend and colleague, Chuck, is with his family this week, gathered to bring ease–as best they can—as granddaughter Olivia slips from this life. A Trisomy18 baby, Olivia was born to live in this world briefly, a month-long, difficult prelude … Continue reading →
- Protecting Marriage: Ironic promotional language for a session at the forthcoming NRB Convention January 30, 2015The headline of a promotional email for a session at the National Religious Broadcasters convention reads: “Protecting Marriage: How to Get the Media Message Right for This Generation.” So how can we explain Protecting Marriage to this generation? (By which … Continue reading →
- On Veterans Day: Memorabilia from My Father, the WWII Veteran November 11, 2014My father was a World War II veteran. Veterans of these battlefields of the last century are now bowed men in their eighties and nineties speaking hesitantly about their colleagues and their service a lifetime ago in the killing fields … Continue reading →
- Of note. Oct. 4, 2017 October 4, 2017
Category Archives: Virtue
Brett Walls’ Magnificent Journey against Locked In Syndrome and United Health Care Paralysis
CHICAGO — Two blocks east of Chicago’s posh Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue, in the shadow of the spectacular John Hancock skyscraper, sits the world’s leading hospital and research enterprise in physical medicine and rehabilitation, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Family, Jim Jewell, Virtue
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Trust Me
Trust has been in decline for many years. I wrote about the decline in public trust in 2010, and just now on the NPOutlook Blog. With charities trying to recover–like so many others–from the economic carnage of the last five years, … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Nonprofit organizations, Values, Virtue
Tagged charity best practices, nonprofit management, trust, Valcort, values
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On Memorial Day: My annual tribute to a soldier of the greatest generation
Memorial Day 2011 When I seek to honor the men and women of the armed forces who paid the ultimate price to fight for freedom and justice, I think of their peers and how they honor those who didn’t make … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Holidays, Jim Jewell, Virtue, War and Peace
Tagged Character, Christianity, family, Greatest Generation, holidays, Memorial day, war and peace
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Weighing Newt’s great presidential adventure
So Newt Gingrich has announced that he will be a candidate for president of the United States in 2012. In my view that is very good news for a Republican field that is anemic–candidates that have no hope, have no … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Jim Jewell, Politics, Presidential campaigns, Republican, Virtue
Tagged Character, Christianity, conservative Christians, politics
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Arab Spring: Where will the air of freedom be breathed next?
The most nervous people in the Middle East today are the despotic leaders of Arab countries and those in their inner circle. Citizenry that we heretofore have never from are now joining protests in the streets of some of the … Continue reading
Posted in History, Islam, Jim Jewell, Politics, Virtue, War and Peace
Tagged Arab spring, Bahrain, democratic freedoms, Egypt, Freedom XIV by Khalil Gibran, Gaza, international, Islam, Libya, politics, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen
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Social grace, in Washington
In a comical episode of military brass interacting with official Washington, four-star General Peter Chiarelli, the #2 general in the U.S. Army, showed decency and good humor when White House official Valerie Jarrett mistook him for a waiter (because of … Continue reading
Posted in Encouragement, Funny, Jim Jewell, Politics, Virtue
Tagged Character, civility, grace, military, politics, Washington manners
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Goodness: hockey crowd rescues 8-year old anthemist
Goodness overcomes.
Posted in Encouragement, Jim Jewell, Sports, Virtue
Tagged Character, goodness overcomes, hockey, national anthem, sports
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The Search for Everyday Wisdom
Ever wake up realizing that what you really need for the week ahead is wisdom? If not, then you probably don’t have children, you don’t have a spouse or any meaningful relationships, you don’t face job challenges, you have endless … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Jim Jewell, Virtue
Tagged 12, 12 stone church, Character, Christianity, Kevin Myers, theology, wisdom
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Justice Dept should charge WikiLeaks’ Assange with sedition
Do our laws protect a troubled and dysfunctional Australian cultural renegade who ignores the accepted conventions of human decency, thumbs his nose at U.S. institutions, and posts on the Internet deep secrets of national defense and awkward details of diplomatic … Continue reading
Posted in Criminal justice, Jim Jewell, Politics, Virtue
Tagged Character, civil liberties, politics, sedition, war and peace, WikiLeaks
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The Collapse of Principle: Opinions on TSA Invading Your Personal Space
If you’ve stopped to think about it, doesn’t it seem odd that the angst over TSA’s scans and pat-downs have come frequently from conservative Republicans, and justification of the actions have come from the Administration’s liberal Democrat defenders on national … Continue reading
Posted in Democrats, Jim Jewell, Philosophy, Politics, Republican, Virtue
Tagged airline security, Character, partisanship, Political philosophy, politics, TSA
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