Earthly Treasures

After my father’s memorial service, a cousin whispered to me that he had hoped I might say a word or two. My answer at the time was that my feelings were too much in turmoil to be able to say anything coherent about my father. Only now, ten months after my father’s death, do I know what I would have liked to have said then, and am able to say now. Continue reading

The Hierarchy Upon Us

The vast social contract that binds us, which rescues us from a brute state of “warre of every one against every one,” nevertheless grants us generous leeway to establish our own brutish hierarchies within it. To work our way up, we must acquire wealth, which can incentivize a host of good qualities. Ascents can also reflect treachery, deception, and acts of theft. Continue reading