The Happiness Disconnect

I was reading a biography of George Washington recently and came across a passage that intrigued me. The writer spoke of George Washington’s happy return to Mt. Vernon after completing his second presidential term. For over twenty years, George’s life had been...

An Unconventional Thanksgiving Story

Growing up, I had always heard about Lou Gehrig’s famous speech as a dying man: “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this Earth….” But I had never read the extensive context of that story until a few years ago when I bought a copy of Luckiest Man:...

Lower the Bar; Raise the Performance

In the seventh grade, I turned 13. That year, my classmates and I were allowed to compete in track and field meets for the first time, representing Good ’ol Memorial Jr. High School. My friend David Simons and I became fascinated with the pole vault, and we built a...