21-year-old Dylann Roof entered a church in Charleston, South Carolina. He sat with some members for a bible study, then opened gunfire on them, killing eight people. A ninth person later died at a hospital. The pastor was among the six women and three men who were killed. This was a racially motivated hate crime. […]
I was caught by a news headline “Couple married for 75 years die together.” Jeanette and Alexander Toczko were born in 1919, met when they were eight years old, and married in 1940. The coupled couldn’t bear the thought of being apart and said they hoped to one day die in their bed, holding hands. […]
No one is quite as bored as a twelve-year-old boy who cries “I’m bored” every fifteen minutes. He is in a seemingly never ending search for stimulation. But you don’t have to be an adolescent to experience this common human experience. Psychologist John Eastwood studied boredom and found that a bored person doesn’t just have […]
Dr. Kenneth Davis, of Galena Clinic, a substance abuse and mental health clinic, often says “No one sets out to be an addict.” These words reflect compassion for the people who suffer from a substance abuse problem that spiraled out of control. Yet our society, in general, lacks the understanding for the people whose lives […]
Drug overdose from heroin or pain medicine happens more often than you’d think. Fred, a young heroin addict, had been dependent upon heroin for a number of years and socialized with peers who also abused substances. He once told me of the overdose of a friend, Abby. Abby accidentally overdosed on heroin presumably at home, […]
Rachel Dolezal, is the past president of the Spokane Chapter of the NAACP civil rights organization and was a university instructor in African-American studies. She has been portraying herself as a black woman for ten years. However, her biological parent’s ancestry is Swedish, German and Czechoslovakian. She states that she is not white and identifies […]
Most people know that more than .08 Blood Alcohol Content is the legal standard for driving impairment. But, many people still drink and drive. Why do they do this? Alcohol dulls the part of the brain that is responsible for planning and may cause you to act out of character. You might believe you are […]
As a marriage counselor I frequently hear couples complain about poor communication. Although it could be either the man or woman, it is most often the woman who says he never listens, he is always trying to fix the problem for her. There is a YouTube video that captures the strained couple’s dynamic beautifully. It’s […]
My heart goes out to the family of Vice President Joe Biden. His son, “Beau” Biden died yesterday of cancer. Joe Biden is no stranger to grief. His wife and their daughter were killed in a car accident in 1972. It is said that there is no grief as difficult as losing a child, and […]
I’m not afraid of death, but I’m afraid of dying. I’m afraid of having full awareness but being trapped in an unresponsive body and having no ability to interact with the world around me. Conversely, I’m afraid of having a fully functioning body which lacks the cognitive skill to participate meaningful with my environment. I’m […]