This weekend, our suburban community joined the unwilling ranks of towns directly impacted by hate crimes. On the way to church Sunday morning, I had to tell my eleven-year-old boys about a shooting at a nearby synagogue the day before where one woman was killed and several were injured. Where young children had to run and hide. One of my boys simply said “why would someone do that?” Why indeed? Sadly, since the dawn of man, we have been fighting wars, killing other humans - over power, religion, land and money. Over our differences. And still, I can’t begin to fathom what could put the kind of hate on someone’s heart that makes them pick up a weapon and attempt to kill another human. Here is what I do know – Love can overcome hate. And understanding can breed love. There’s an internet meme that goes something like this “A Pastor, a Rabbi and an Atheist walk into a bar...And they break bread and share stories of their day and trials of t
There is a crazy amount of money plowed into Youth Sports each year (this is a blog, not a research report, so I'm not planning to quantify "crazy amount", but probably in the bazillions). Lots of parents think their six year old kid is the next Lionel Messi - funding camps, private lessons and jerseys, not to mention club and tournament fees. For our part, we've encouraged sports with our kids from an early age. But we are also putting away money in a college fund because we have no illusion that our kids will be doing anything professional with sports, unless it is from inside a press box or perhaps figuring out multi-state income allocations (likely scenario...we even have a family powerpoint on that topic). A couple years ago, though, I found myself not-so-tongue-in-cheek signing my emails "Youth Sports Agent" as we navigated a situation with one son's soccer team. This fall, I'm finding myself navigating similar (if not so dramatic) water