There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
Advent invites us to refocus on Christ, silencing the season’s distractions.
Our world is filled with distractions. With a phone always in reach, we can scroll through social media feeds, search for information, watch a video, or send a text. An instant dopamine hit draws us in at the risk of being unable to stay focused – a risk most of us take daily. Constantly looking at our phones may seem normal, but it can negatively affect our interactions with others, the way we engage with media and books, and our productivity at work. For Christians, the question also arises: How can we refocus on Christ in this technologically wired world if our thoughts are constantly being tugged in various directions?
One way is by celebrating Advent.
This is more than just decorating or counting down the days before Christmas. To refocus on Jesus, we must truly engage with Advent, taking the time to think about what this season means. For Advent invites us to pause and consider the larger story of our world. We are shown that life is about more than staring at screens or scrolling – our Savior has come to rescue us from sin and death and is coming again.
This truth has the power to change everything if we step away from our hectic schedules and distractions and refocus on Christ.
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
—Genesis 3:24
Yes, worship of the loving God is man’s whole reason for existence. That is why we are born and that is why we are born again from above. That is why we were created and that is why we have been recreated. That is why there was a genesis at the beginning, and that is why there is a re-genesis, called regeneration.
That is also why there is a church. The Christian church exists to worship God first of all. Everything else must come second or third or fourth or fifth….
Sad, sad indeed, are the cries of so many today who have never discovered why they were born. It brings to mind the poet Milton’s description of the pathetic lostness and loneliness of our first parents. Driven from the garden, he says, “they took hand in hand and through the valley made their solitary way.” WHT056-057
Lord, use me today to point someone to the way out of the wilderness. Sad, sad indeed is the fact that so many of my own acquaintances may not yet know why they were born. Speak through me today. Amen.1
When I cry to You, Lord, You will hear, for You are gracious. You will not cast me away, nor shall You abhor me, to utterly destroy me and break Your covenant with me; for You are the Lord my God. You will remember Your covenant with me in the days of my youth, and You will establish an everlasting covenant with me.
Lord, You say, “Come now, and let us reason together.” Though my sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to You, Lord, and You will have mercy on him; and to our God, for You will abundantly pardon. The dying thief said, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
A bruised reed You will not break, Almighty God, and smoking flax You will not quench.
Great are Your mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Thank You for Your abundant pardon and Your faithfulness to Your covenant promises.
John 6:37; Exodus 22:27; Leviticus 26:44; Ezekiel 16:60; Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah 55:7; Luke 23:42–43; Isaiah 42:31
Isn’t Thanksgiving a wonderful holiday? It’s a whole day set aside for feasting and thanking God for all of the glorious things He has done for us. And what’s a celebration without great music? Here, in no particular order, are my top 10 picks for beautiful and joyful songs of Thanksgiving. (Click on the titles of the videos without screen lyrics for a lyric sheet in case you’d like to sing along!)
Thanksgiving is a whole day set aside for feasting and thanking God for all of the glorious things He has done for us. And what’s a celebration without great music?Tweet
It’s the iconic song of Thanksgiving, and for good reason. Won’t it be amazing to one day “gather together” with our brothers and sisters from all over the world to offer thanks and praise to our great and glorious God?
2. O Give Thanks
This was a new one for me this year, but it’s already a favorite. With its phenomenal theology and singability, this one is probably already a Thanksgiving staple in many churches.
3. Now Thank We All Our God
“With hearts and hands and voices.” We thank God in our hearts and by singing and praying to Him, but let’s not forget to serve Him, and others, as an act of thanks as well.
4. Give Thanks
This song quickly became a Thanksgiving standard in the 90’s. I love the way it points us to the simple truth of being thankful for Christ.
5. Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
Sit down and read over the lyrics of this one if you have a moment. The hymnist beautifully weaves together the idea of harvest time and God’s provision for us with the idea that we are God’s “crop,” wheat and tares sown together. And one day “the Lord our God shall come, and shall take the harvest home.”
Did you know this song had verses? I have to say I feel a little cheated. I’ve been singing this song all my life and never knew of the three precious verses about thankfulness in this song. We need to bring them back!1
How often do we forget to thank God for the simple things? The beauty of the earth, the love of family and friends, the church, and Christ, God’s best gift of all.
8. I Thank You, Lord
I’m sorry, but if this song doesn’t have you dancing across the kitchen with the turkey, you’d better check your praise thang to make sure it ain’t broke. “I thank you Lord. You’ve been so good to me.” Not a thing wrong with that! (Sorry, I couldn’t find a lyrics sheet.)
What a lovely treat from the chorale of The Master’s University. When’s the last time you counted your blessings? Thanksgiving is a great day to start, but don’t forget to keep counting (and thanking God) all year through!
10. He Has Made Me Glad
Drawn from Psalm 100 and 118, this sweet little song reminds us of the joy of simply being in God’s presence and thanking Him for who He is.
What’s your favorite Thanksgiving song, or song of thanks and praise to God?Tweet
What’s your favorite Thanksgiving song, or song of thanks and praise to God?
1I appreciate this sweet sister sharing her rendition of Thank You, Lord, for Saving My Soul, but I’d like to get a higher quality video of this song (I scoured YouTube and Vimeo, and this was the absolute best I could find that included the verses). I’m looking for, at minimum, a duet, but preferably a quartet, ensemble, or choir (from a reasonably doctrinally sound church) version, a capella or accompanied, original, not modernized. It should include all of the verses, high quality audio, and high quality vocal talent. I can’t offer to pay you, all I can offer you is some exposure every year at Thanksgiving when I re-run this article. Interested? Put it on YouTube and send me the link.
I have not exhaustively vetted these musicians and songwriters, and I do not endorse any of them whose lives or beliefs conflict with Scripture or my beliefs as outlined in the Statement of Faith or Welcome tabs at the top of this page.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Romans 4:8
When the eternal Son of God became the Son of Man and walked on this earth, He always called individuals to His side. Jesus did not come into the world to deal with statistics!
He deals with individuals and that is why the Christian message is and always has been: “God loves the world! He loves the masses and throngs only because they are made up of individuals. He loves every individual person in the world!”
In the great humanistic tide of our day, the individual is no longer the concern. We are pressed to think of the human race in a lump. We are schooled to think of the human race in terms of statistics. In many nations, the state is made to be everything and the individual means nothing at all.
Into the very face and strength of this kind of humanism comes the Christian evangel, the good news of salvation, wondrously alight with the assurance for all who will listen:
“You are an individual and you matter to God! His concern is not for genes and species but for the individuals He has created!”
Father God, Your Word says that You knew each one of us before we were born (see Jeremiah 1:5), You personally knit us together in our mother’s womb (see Psalm 139:13), and You planned each day of our life (see Psalm 139:16). I praise You, Lord! My only response to this can be to live every day for Your glory.1
The ever-rising frequency of tattoos and body piercings—fully a third of Americans are tattooed, and nearly a quarter have more than one tattoo while around a third of young Americans now have something stapled into their bodies in a site other than the ear—is a visual depiction of our cultural disintegration.
No, I am not going to speak in the ethically marble-mouthed way so many do when discussing this phenomenon. Tattooing and body piercing are a cultural disease. The expansion of this loathsome, deformative practice is the result of the collapse of the value system that once clearly dominated American society and the emergence of a perverse new set of values oriented around radical individualism, materialism, and nihilism.
It is of note that the virulence of these practices extends across the American political divide. Those suffering from the malady can be found on the MAGA right in approximately the same frequency as on the woke left.
The evidence is overwhelming that the tattooed are more likely to have suffered from a host of negative childhood experiences, related psychopathologies, and self-destructive behavioral predilections than those who have not marked their bodies with these coded indicators of mental illness. Tattooing and body stapling correlate strongly with childhood trauma. (It is interesting, though, to note how advocates attempt to spin—without evidence—tattoos and piercings as a way of successfully coping with trauma rather than recognizing it as a form of acting out because of the psychological damage caused by trauma.)
The tatted and pierced are more likely to be smokers, more likely to have spent time in jail, and more likely to have had a high number of sex partners. Drug abuse, alcoholism, self-harm, impulsivity, and risk-taking behavior are all higher in this population than in the non-tattoed and non-stapled.
Significant segments of elite culture are trying hard to normalize this kind of body modification and mutilation, but the behavior is a sign and a symptom of serious unhealth. It is widely recognized as such by the morally normal. People correctly judge the tattooed and the stapled as statistically more prone to risky behavior. For example, men will more eagerly approach tattooed women because they believe (again, in keeping with statistical evidence) they are more likely to have quick and commitment-free sex this way.
Tattooing and body stapling are also an indication of comparatively low intelligence. Those with lower educational levels are considerably more likely to have tattoos and piercings. The likelihood of getting a tattoo correlate perfectly with IQ according to groupings. That is, being tattooed and/or stapled is more to least likely in racial groups in this order: blacks, Latinos, whites, and then Asians. Tattoos and piercings are correlated within racial groups with lower social class, that is, even within groups where the propensity is relatively high, those higher in intelligence are less likely to engage in it. Negative views of tattoos correlate with higher education and higher social class. Religiosity, furthermore, correlates with a lower likelihood of tattoos and being homosexual or of any other deviant sexual identity. These deviancies are all significantly correlated with tattooing. And though I have not found any specific data on this, I strongly suspect that when you see tattooed and stapled young people, and perhaps especially young women (who are significantly more likely than young men to be tattooed or stapled), you are seeing people disproportionately from families characterized by divorce and the lack of two parents. Social decay and isolation and the mental harm that accompanies these things frequently lead to the tattooist or the piercer.
Some portions of the population sporting tattoos and piercings recognize, however vaguely, the wrongheadedness of these practices. At least a quarterof those so disfigured regret disfiguring themselves.
If it is broadly low intelligence and various psychopathologies that drive people to such behavior, how do they explain it to themselves? Typically, those involved in deviant and self-harming activity justify the acts to themselves with some kind of rationale. The self-mutilated community often claims it as a sign of “individualism,” the expression of a unique, non-conforming, and (it is presumed from the non-conformity) exciting and interesting identity.
Yet an examination of tattoos and piercings reveals how deeply formulaic and conformist they in fact are. They give off the same aesthetic as spray-paint tags on train stations and other public sites. The next time you are in a large city, look closely at a number of any of the purported examples of “creativity” and “individuality” painted on walls and subway cars and marvel at how limited the aesthetic range is. It is astonishing how similar all of it looks after you have seen a few examples. Now look at tattoos and piercings and note a similar uniformity. The same predictable range of images, of messages, of aesthetic structure and design. Tattoos and piercings are fully as individualistic as contemporary pop music, with its droning rhythm and one repetitive and simplistic melodic line throughout the song. One size fits all in this “individualist” form of expression. It is the individualism in which all seem to be expressing exactly the same thing.
It is one of the most untouched moral catastrophes of our culture. The evidence of the harm attached to it is clear, and yet almost no one talks about it. Increasingly, the only reaction to the kind of observations I make here is along the lines of “Hey, they are not hurting you, why do you care?”
I care because my culture is disintegrating, and my children have to grow up in this culture. I care because it is frequently the case that those who self-harm (think of drug addicts and alcoholics) do not recognize the destruction they are visiting on themselves, and they need objective external voices to help them come to understand it. We should not stand by and let people harm themselves just because they indicate—as a result of their own previous suffering and lack of critical insight—that they want to do it.
The normalization of the thing is not evidence of its benign nature or its safety. Diseases often spread. American flag and eagle tatted Trump voters and eyebrow-pierced, nose-ringed Harris voters are united in this collective insanity. College professors give classes celebrating it as “the new tribalism.” Many of the younger cohort of professors and professionals are themselves drowning in tattoos and body staples.
We need a new generation of young cultural traditionalists to emerge to call this what it is—self-harm and cultural dissolution—and to combat its advance.
Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”
In times of trouble the key to victory instead of defeat is perspective. In her book, Streams in the Desert, Mrs. Charles Cowman quotes an anonymous writer who has the right perspective on trials and difficulties:
Yes, they saw the giants [in Numbers 13:33], but Caleb and Joshua saw God!… Giants stand for great difficulties; and giants are stalking everywhere. They are in our families, in our churches, in our social life, in our own hearts; and we must overcome them or they will eat us up, as these men of old said of the giants of Canaan …
Now the fact is, unless we have the overcoming faith we shall be eaten up, consumed by the giants in our path. Let us have the spirit of faith that these men of faith had, and see God, and He will take care of the difficulties.
The nation of Israel did not face trouble when they were standing still or thinking of retreating. Only when they moved forward, trusting God, did they face the grimmest trials. Many times a sure sign that you are doing what God has called you to do is opposition. Satan and his workers have one goal in mind, and that is to keep you from being all that God has planned for you to become.
If you sense there is a spiritual battle brewing, go immediately to God in prayer. Tell Him all you are facing. Prayer is your strength, and His Word your greatest weapon.
Lord, I am facing battles today. Give me an overcoming, victorious faith.1
1 Stanley, C. F. (2002). Seeking His face (p. 324). Thomas Nelson Publishers.
“He that believeth on him is not condemned.” John 3:18
suggested further reading: Hebrews 12:5–11
You are never liable as a believer to punishment for your sins. You will be chastised on account of them, as a father chastises his child; that is part of the gospel dispensation; but you will not be smitten for your sins as the lawgiver smites the criminal. Your Father may often punish you as he punished the wicked, but never for the same reason. The ungodly stand on the ground of their own demerits; their sufferings are awarded as their due deserts. But your sorrows do not come to you as a matter of desert; they come to you as a matter of love. God knows that in one sense your sorrows are such a privilege that you may account of them as a boon you do not deserve. I have often thought of that when I have had a sore trouble. I know some people say, “You deserved the trouble.” Yes, my dear brethren, but there is not enough merit in all the Christians put together, to deserve such a good thing as the loving rebuke of our heavenly Father. Perhaps you cannot see that; you cannot think that a trouble can come to you as a real blessing in the covenant. But I know that the rod of the covenant is as much the gift of grace as the blood of the covenant. It is not a matter of merit; it is given to us because we need it. But I question whether we were ever so good as to deserve it. We were never able to get up to so high a standard as to deserve so rich, so gracious a providence as this covenant blessing—the rod of our chastening God.
for meditation: When disciplined by his heavenly Father, the Christian is experiencing a beatitude (Job 5:17; Psalm 94:12)!
Reformation Day, October 31, is the annual observance of the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Celebrate the day with these songs showcasing each of the Five Solas of the Reformation, or use them as a guide for your Reformation Sunday worship set. (I’ve also compiled the videos below into a YouTube playlist entitled Reformation Day.) Soli Deo Gloria!
Sola Scriptura
Scripture alone – not church traditions, the teachings of man, or extra-biblical revelation – is what we base our beliefs and worship practices on.
I have not exhaustively vetted these musicians and songwriters. please make sure to examine against Scripture any of them you choose to follow and make sure they are doctrinally sound.
And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. (Genesis 32:27)
Don’t be surprised if God asks you the same question He asked Jacob. God forced Jacob to look at his identity! He wrestled him into a revelation of who he was—not who others said he was. His answer was pitiful! “I’m Jacob” (which means “Deceiver”). His parents gave it to him, others called him by it, so he believed that’s who he was, and that’s who he’d always be. Child of God don’t buy it! You’re not who others say you are! Why should they name you? Determine who you are before God; let Him set the limits of your success!
Why should others be allowed to live at their highest potential—but not you? If you can hear me behind that protective shell, then listen: You’re more than your childhood! More than your past! More than the color of your skin! More than your bank account! More than your circumstances! Tell them “You’re confusing me with somebody else. God says my name is “Israel,” a prince with God. If I’m a prince, then I have the right to be treated like one!” The Word says, “You’re a royal priesthood” (l Peter 2:9). “You’re an overcomer” (1 John 2:13–14). “You’re the head and not the tail; you’re above and not beneath” (Deuteronomy 28:13,14).
Lift your head, square your shoulders, dry your tears; God says you are “somebody special,” and it’s time you started believing and acting on it!1
The songwriter, actor, country/western singer, musician, U.S. Army veteran, helicopter pilot, accomplished rugby player and boxer, Rhodes scholar, Pomona College and University of Oxford degreed, and summa cum laude literature graduate, Kris Kristofferson, recently died at 88.
Americans may have known him best for writing smash hits like “Me and Bobby McGee” and “For the Good Times,” his wide-ranging, star-acting roles in A Star is Born and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, his numerous solo albums, especially with then-spouse and singer Rita Coolidge, and the country group super-quartet he formed with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson.Read More
In other words, Kristofferson was a rare Renaissance man who could do it all in an age of increasingly narrow specialization and expertise.
At certain times throughout history at particular locales, we have seen such singular people from all walks of life.
Classical Athens produced polymaths like Aristotle—tutor to Alexander the Great, logician, student of music, art, and literature, educator, think-tank founder, biologist, philosopher, and scientist. Later Greeks like Archimedes and Ptolemy, as men of action, mastered six or seven disciplines and applied their abstract knowledge in ways that made life easier for those around them.
The late Roman Republic was another cauldron of multitalented geniuses. It produced the brilliant stylist, historian, politician, and consummate general Julius Caesar, as well as his republican archrival Cicero—politician, philosopher, orator, master stylist, lawyer, and provincial governor.
Turn-of-the-century Victorian Great Britain produced giants like Winston Churchill—prime minister, statesman, essayist, historian, orator, strategist, and wartime veteran. As Britain’s war leader, between May 10, 1940, and June 22, 1941, he, almost alone, resisted the Axis powers and prevented Adolf Hitler from winning the war.
But we associate the idea of a “Renaissance man” mostly with Florence, Italy, between the 15th and 16thcenturies. In that brief 100 years, the Florentine Republic hosted multi-talented geniuses like Leonardo da Vinci—master painter, sculptor, architect, scientist, engineer, and inventor—best known for the Mona Lisa and Last Supper.
The multifaceted talents of his younger contemporary Michelangelo were as astounding, whether defined by his iconic sculptures David and Pietà, his stunning painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, or as the master architect of the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica.
The American Revolution was a similar embryo of Renaissance men. Thomas Jefferson was perhaps the most famous example of unchecked abstract and pragmatic genius displayed in almost every facet of late 18th– and early 19th-century life—main author of the Declaration of Independence, third U.S. President, founder of the University of Virginia, inventor, agronomist, architect, and diplomat.
But Benjamin Franklin may best approximate the model of the Florentine Renaissance holistic brilliance—journalist, publisher, printer, author, politician, diplomat, inventor, scientist, and philosopher.
Franklin’s life was one of perpetual motion and achievement. In one lifetime, he helped to draft the Constitution, invented everything from the lightning rod to bifocals, founded the American postal service, and successfully won over European countries to the nascent American cause. Theodore Roosevelt—president, historian, essayist, conservationist, naturalist combat veteran, battle leader, explorer, and cowboy—exemplified the idea of an American president as the master at almost everything else.
The history of our own contemporary Renaissance people often suggests that they are not fully appreciated until after their deaths—especially in the post-World War II era.
Why?
We have created a sophisticated modern society that is so compartmentalized by “professionals” and the credentialed that those who excel simultaneously in several disciplines are often castigated for “amateurism,” “spreading themselves too thinly,” “not staying in their lanes,” or not being degreed with the proper prerequisite letters—BA, BS, MA, PhD, MD, JD, or MBA—in the various fields that they master.
But specialization is the enemy of genius, as is the tyranny of credentialism.
Because the Renaissance figure is not perfect in every discipline he masters, we damn him for too much breadth and not enough depth—a dabbler rather than an expert—failing to realize that his successes in most genres he masters and redefines is precisely because he brings a vast corpus of unique insights and experience to his work that narrower specialists lack. The Greek poet Archilochus first delineated the contrast between the fox who “knows many things” and the hedgehog who “knows one—one big thing.” We have become a nation of elite hedgehogs, whose narrow expertise is not enriched by awareness of or interest in the wider human experience.
Renaissance people often live controversial lives and receive 360-degree incoming criticism, not surprising given the many fields in which they upstage specialists and question experts—and the sometimes overweening nature of their personalities that feel no reason to place boundaries and lanes on their geniuses and behavior or to temper their exuberances.
The best American example of the current age is the controversial Elon Musk, a truly Renaissance figure who has revolutionized at least half a dozen entire fields.
No one prior had broken the Big Three auto monopoly of GM, Ford, and Chrysler.
Musk did just that. He exploded all three companies’ dominance with his successful creation of the first viable electric vehicle, Tesla, whose comfort, drivability, reliability, safety, and power rivaled or exceeded the models of all his competitors.
His spin-off battery storage and solar panel companies allowed thousands of families to go off the grid and stay self-sufficient in power usage.
Musk’s revolutionary Starlink internet system—a mere five years old—provides global online service to over 100 countries. Through its some 7,000 satellites, Starlink brings internet service to remote residents far more effectively and cheaply than do their own governments. When natural disasters overwhelm utilities or war disrupts the normality of peace, all look to Musk to restore online reconnections to the outside world.
Musk, almost singlehandedly, transformed the U.S. space program from a NASA 60-year-old government monopoly to an arena of fervent private-public competition. His Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) created a rocket and spacecraft program that has kept the U.S. preeminent in space exploration and reliable satellite launches. When NASA and old aerospace companies falter, the government looks to Musk to bail them out.
Musk, at great personal cost, radically transformed the old Twitter—poorly managed, censorious of ideas and expressions not deemed progressive, and mired in scandal for partnering with the FBI to silence news deemed possibly injurious to Democratic candidates and left-wing campaigns.
His new X replacement is an unfettered platform for free expression. And the more the left abhors their loss of the monopolistic old Twitter’s ideological clearing house, and vows to flee X and start their own new left-wing, censorious Twitters, the more they stay on X.
Musk’s newest companies have now entered the convoluted, little-understood, radically competitive, and dangerous field of artificial intelligence (OpenAI) and the emerging discipline of bonding the natural brain to the electronic online world (Neuralink). To the degree Musk is successful, America will lead these areas of intense international rivalry that involve the gravest issues of national security and survival.
Overspecialization has helped make vulnerable and sometimes doomed complex top-down societies from the Mycenaeans to the Aztecs to the Soviets. A tiny credentialed and often incestuous elite manages the lives of a vast underclass whose daily lives are scripted by top-down master planners—as an autonomous and skeptical middle class disappears.
America is increasingly becoming a bifurcated, two-tiered society of a specialized government-corporate-media-political-credentialed class of degreed overseers and managers who attempt to micromanage an increasingly less well-educated, dependent underclass.
The overclass cult lacks sufficient common sense and pragmatic expertise outside their narrow areas of specialization to direct society, and the masses are often without the education, money, and power to challenge them or the esoteric complexity of their modern society. And the result is often disastrous, as we see everywhere, from the trivial to the existential—from our currently paralyzed state space station program and inability to build a floating pier in Gaza, to ineffectual and insensitive state responses to natural disasters like Hurricane Helene and an increasingly dangerously incompetent Secret Service.
Renaissance people provide a link to the proverbial people, as they master almost anything they attempt while keeping themselves attuned to the practical effect of their achievement among the people.
The Renaissance physicist Richard Feynman once explained to the entire nation why the Space Shuttle 1986 Challenger catastrophically imploded shortly after launch. A polymath Albert Einstein explained to America why it had to begin the Manhattan Project and beat Nazi Germany to the acquisition of an atomic bomb. Theodore Roosevelt used his expertise as a politician, conservationist, outdoorsman, explorer, and writer to help establish and preserve 230 million acres of public lands.
So, we should occasionally pause and reflect on the Kristoffersons and Musks in our midst. They play a vital role in enriching culture and civilization for the many without becoming part of the narrow few. And we owe these people, who belong to a rare and hallowed caste of the ages, for making our lives richer, more enjoyable, easier, and safer.
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