Three Panels of the Triptych Foundation: Part 2 – Business
It’s easy to forget the impactful role that business plays in society, but it’s a space where we regularly engage other people. How we interact at work is every bit as important as what we…
‘We’re too weak to save ourselves:’ Building a better future from a broken past.
Last week, I had coffee with Jill. The conversation moved to the painful life experiences which shape us. “There was this one boy,” she said, “who pushed me in the hallway and called me fat.”…
A Gulf Coast Confessional
I felt a bit goofy bobbing in the emerald waves with my Morey boogie board looking for a powerful wave that didn’t come. She was being gentle after years of roughing me up. I don’t…
Raising good men who aren’t safe
This is an opinion column When Susan inquires about Aslan, the lion king in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, she’s concerned about the prospect of meeting the great beast. “Is he—quite…
Stop replacing a risen Lord with flawed messiahs
Watching the stone seal Jesus’s tomb must have been devastating to those who believed in Him. In that moment, who among them could believe Jesus’s prediction that he would overcome the grave? Lately, many of…
Voter Suppression is for Losers
We should do everything in our power to increase legal voting in America. The political consequences shouldn’t sway us against that goal if we’re a nation whose leaders are indeed selected by “we the people.”…
Like it or not, disconnecting gender from sex has real consequences
From the clothes we wear to sports we play and even the words we use, gender continues to play a massive role in American society. At present, our legal and policy approach is on a…
Three Panels of the Triptych Foundation: Part 3 – Policy and Politics
Public policy matters deeply to our cultural trajectory. In a representative democracy, we elect officials who build the policies which shape the contours of our daily lives. The Triptych Foundation isn’t a think tank, but…
Politics Without a Point
Most of us have no idea what we really want out of politics. Fuming with outrage, we vent our emotions into the digital void. The cathartic moment evaporates, and we’re left with the sinking feeling…
God answered Mom Flanders’s prayer across five generations
As my older two sons took turns reading chapters out of Deuteronomy, my father listened, but I could tell he was somewhere else. His face displayed a kind of emotion I don’t usually see. When…
Three Panels of the Triptych Foundation: Part 1 – Media
Now more than ever, media shapes culture. From cable news and social media to movies and television, a myriad of voices constantly tells us what to think, feel, and do. The Triptych Foundation engages that…
The American political spectrum is a lie.
Our political language frequently fails to assist us in solving real problems. Instead of saying what we mean, we default to the accepted words and phrases in discussions. For example, too many pundits and politicians…
Get out of your political doomsday cult
Fearing that the earth was about to be “recycled,” 39 Heaven’s Gate cultists ceremoniously killed themselves in 1997 hoping their souls might hitch a ride on a spacecraft following the Hale-Bopp comet. They left a…
An uncomfortable minimum wage column
President Joe Biden is pushing to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 as part of another COVID-19 relief package. Republicans have sounded the alarm, and Democrats don’t see why their political counterparts refuse to…
If we can’t believe the people we elect, what can we trust?
The other night, a few of my friends were shocked to learn I did not believe the presidential election was stolen. These are savvy professionals who aren’t about to dress like buffalo and attack the…
Big if true: Don’t be a gossip or a liar with a disclaimer
I remember sitting on Bill Primm’s concrete porch drinking a Coke as the sun set. After a hard day of hauling hay, I asked the American Airlines-mechanic-turned-farmer a question about cattle. I don’t recall the…
Responding to the pencil in the wall
As my sons stared at the pencil protruding from the sheetrock wall, their mushy-brained machinations led them to believe they could lessen any ensuing punishment by microwaving marshmallows and using the sticky mess to fill…
Fear can’t be the foundation for our future
For more than a decade serving in and around politics, I believed that America’s governmental institutions–properly equipped with good ideas and reasonable people–would lead our nation towards prosperity while protecting our critical civil liberties. The…
I found myself in boxes of old photographs
After my brother’s suicide nearly two decades ago, my parents stashed our family photographs in a hot upstairs closet where they’ve remained neglected ever since. Tragic loss shades even our most beautiful memories. I don’t…
You’re not as righteous as you’d like to believe
If everyone were actually as patriotic and morally upright as they considered themselves, we’d be in a very different place in America. Acknowledging our flaws and the complex nature of the problems we face is…
Here’s a truth: Fake lives don’t matter
As children, my siblings and I, along with a few kids from the neighborhood, ended our family gardening season with a tomato battle. After a few nicely placed welts, we found the green ones hurt…