Which social forces
They say a nation gets the politicians it deserves. In some senses this is true: politicians are indeed a mirror of their society, and…
See our neighbors
If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes,…
Howls about realism
Don’t be led away by those howls about realism. Remember—pine woods are just as real as pigsties and a darn sight pleasanter to be…
Ceasing to love
How does one hate a country, or love one? … I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and rocks, I know…
What gives it power
Borders mark the contours of nations, states, even cities, defining them by separating them from all others. A border can be natural—an ocean, a…
Questions with no answers
Indeed, the only truly serious questions are ones that even a child can formulate. Only the most naive of questions are truly serious. They…
To love and be loved
Whenever I groan within myself and think how hard it is to keep writing about love in these times of tension and strife, which…
Some vision of the good life
To be human is to be animated and oriented by some vision of the good life, some picture of what we think counts as…
Tenderness
Tenderness is the path of choice for the strongest, most courageous men and women. Tenderness is not weakness; it is fortitude. It is the…
Coincidence into consistency
What convinces masses are not facts, and not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system of which they are presumably a…