A recent message indicated that 2009 had the highest number of suicides for any given year in the Army. I’d like to know what you think are the causes of this sad reality. Tell me what you think!... Read more here

Summer in DC means hot, humid days and thunderstorms at night. Yesterday was no exception.

Just before dinner, lightning hit a large white pine in my backyard, splitting the trunk and shattering it into many pieces. The top of the tree twisted and tore off, landing on the ground near the still-standing trunk. The power of the bolt hitting the tree broke off another piece, about four feet high, and thicker than a woodsman’s arm, driving it straight into the ground nearby. So deeply embedded, it didn’t budge when we tried to pull it out.  Mother Nature’s power at work!... Read more here

April. This month means spring. New life. Growth.
I didn’t understand the drama of spring time until I visited parts of our country with long, bleak winters.
Where I grew up, winter was wet and green, fading to a gradual hot and brown with the summer sun. But for many places it is just the opposite - the bleakness of winter, complete with dreary colors, blossoms into a palette of color with spring flowers, green grass, and budding trees.
Emerging beauty. Change with hope written through it.
Another word could be redemption. It is interesting that two great world religions, Judaism and Christianity, celebrate holy days in the spring, this year both in April (often religious holy days follow a lunar month, so the days don’t always coincide with our solar calendar).... Read more here