Today, always a Thursday, is a day to treasure.  It is a day to slow down, spend time with family and friends, and to give thanks. But I am not sure we fully embrace this day’s essential meaning. And a note I received today from one of my friends relaying his recent experience visiting some “favelas” in Northern Brazil made me think about this even more. We all know the story of the native Americans and pilgrims sitting down together for the first Thanksgiving meal in a land that would one day become a part of the United States. However, the annual thanksgiving holiday tradition in what would become the…

Today’s posting may seem like a collection of random thoughts – and in a way, it is.  I write these postings as material for a future book (if it ever gets written), but also as self-therapy.  In fact, I recently responded to the following question on the Mennonite Health Assembly Association Website, “What have you learned about yourself during the past year?”, with the following:                   “I have learned that I need to write – not for others, but for myself. By organizing my thoughts that I share with others, it forces me to create a lucid narrative that helps me to understand why I hold certain world views. And…