Upstander Reflections

School's out for me and that means it’s “project season.” The first project of this summer is a swingset. Between our house and our two next door neighbors, there are eight kids under nine. Ages: 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 6 months. Wanna come over...?    The six oldest. From left:   Leah, Sadie, Maddie, Finn, Katie, Nate Money is tight, but Maureen and I figured a swingset would be the best place to put $500. Now, If you don’t know anything about swingsets, like us, you might think that $500 would get you a pretty decent swingset. Not true. A good swing set can run into the thousands. The ones available for around $500 would be destroyed by the kids in a matter of weeks. Enter “project season.” We found one of those “expensive” swingsets on Craigslist for $200. The problem is, it’s over 10 years old, and is in someone else's lawn an hour into the suburbs. Now we just need to get a truck, disassemble it, transport it, sand it, stain it and reassemble it. It’...

Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill. -Buddha I am a firm believer of the saying, “actions speak louder than words.” In my home, community, and work life I try my best to be a good example that others can follow. I believe that this is the most effective way to lead and influence others. This week has reminded that, when it comes to leading by example, words matter . I would argue that in this digital age, they matter more than they used it. On Wednesday, Thomas Hodgkinson found it necessary to open fire as Republican lawmakers were practicing for a bipartisan charity baseball game. He seriously wounded Republican Senator Steve Scalise and several others before he was killed by Capitol Police, who thank God were there as part of a security detail. Why would a 66 year old man from Illinois travel to DC to kill lawmakers? This is a question that everyone in this country needs to ...

This week my mind has been on grades because, well, it’s that time of the year. I teach a semester course and, as I was reflecting on the students I taught this semester, I couldn’t help but notice that our president has also finished his first semester. Just like my students, he started in late January. This gave me an idea… why don’t I grade him like one of my students? Just like when grading my students, I will try not to be bias and stick to what he actually did.   My grading categories are pretty simple: 50% Assessments: This is the biggest category. In my class, it consists of formal discussions, formal speeches, quizzes, projects and essays. 30% Classwork and Homework: These are your day-to-day assignments. This is the stuff that prepares you for your assessments. 20% Diplomacy: This is your behavior in class. This is how well you work in a group and your ability to succeed and lead the people around you.   Let’s start with assessments category. ...

The past two weeks have been extremely difficult for the British people. On May 22nd, a suicide bomber attacked an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. On June 3rd, three attackers rammed a truck into pedestrians on London Bridge and began stabbing people. In total, there were 30 people killed and 167 wounded.   Why? In my opinion, this is the most important question. As far as we know now, all of the attackers are natural born or naturalized citizens of the UK, but are either descendants from or immigrants from Arab countries. We also know that they are either sympathizers to or directly connected with ISIS (the so-called Islamic State). All of them are young men that have been radicalized to believe that, as a Muslim, they must kill the “infidels” so that “their” people can live in freedom.   It’s pretty easy when experiencing this history for one to generalize. It’s so frustrating! When attacks happen back-to-back like that, you just want to blame someone. ...