“What is This Thing Called Love?” is a beautiful song about the enigma of romantic love, but surely we don’t need a pop love song to tell us what romantic love is all about, do we? After all, most of us have experienced the ecstatic feelings of “falling in love” at some point(s) in our […]
I awoke this morning to the breaking news of another shooting in America with multiple victims. People are shocked (yet again), so we can take solace that at least this hadn’t yet become “ho-hum, meh” news. But how often does this tragedy have to occur before our legislators – and we – honor the victims and […]
I’m deeply drawn to the annual American tradition of Thanksgiving. I stipulate ‘American’ because I here immigrated twenty-five years ago and found the symbolism of communal gratitude especially meaningful. This country has been a beacon of inspiration, symbolized by the Statue of Liberty where Emma Lazarus’s words are permanently etched (“Give me your tired, your […]
Young people are often the energetic and idealistic avatars of the future. They are iconoclastic, criticize society’s deficiencies and inequities, and frequently at the forefront of social change. But a few decades ago thousands of young people (older adolescents and young adults) seemed enthralled by unfamiliar, sometimes flamboyant, religious groups. They captivated the imagination and […]
If We Humans Are So Good, Why Are We So Bad?! Given that homo sapiens is the most evolved of all the species on planet Earth, we humans can indeed be immensely proud of ourselves. Over the millennia of our existence on Earth, around 250,000 years, our brains and bodies have enabled us to withstand […]
My brother Steve (“Stevie”), who died a couple of years ago, had a lasting impact on my life. Stevie was born just as I was turning 13, having my Bar Mitzvah, and thereby “becoming a man.” He “arrived” on this earth as a beautiful infant with bright red hair (like his siblings), and an innocent […]
The Character of Our Leaders: Important or Irrelevant? Do you think that – policies aside– the leader of a democratic country should be a person of decency and integrity, an upstanding citizen, a Mensch? Need he/she be ethical, respectful and knowledgeable, an inspiring role model whom youth […]
The recent death of one of my oldest and closest friends hit me hard. But even before mourning his loss, I’d been ruminating about many other friends who had passed away, as well as my own mortality. Within this last decade, I’ve had the painful experiences of losing eleven wonderful friends from my life, all […]
The Ominous Resurgence of Anti-Semitism “I’ve been aware most of my life that I am hated by many people around the world.” A strong statement, I know, especially coming from a psychiatrist. I certainly have frailties and faults, but ”hated”?! Like you, I think of myself as a decent person, personally well-liked by many, loved […]
I Never Liked Pets… I have an admission to make: When I was younger, I didn’t like pets. Actually, nobody owned pet dogs or cats when I was a child in my poor immigrant neighborhood. Dogs were considered frivolous or dangerous, and were expensive. The feral cats in the local alleys seemed furtive and weird, […]