February 2016 officials in Paris announced that they had a plan to make the city a model of cleanliness for Europe. Frankly, it needs a plan. Anyone who has been to Paris will attest to the accumulation of garbage, overflowing waste bins, floating refuse and, according to city officials, 350 metric tonnes of annually… Read more »
Yesterday was #GivingTuesday, an initiative started at 92Y to complement Thanksgiving’s day of gratitude. Following Black Friday and Cyber Tuesday, #GivingTuesday is a wonderful reminder of one of the values that sustains and defines this country—generosity. One of the most obvious ways to participate in #GivingTuesday is to donate to your charity or cause of choice—and,… Read more »
Editor’s note: Benjamin Franklin called Thanksgiving a day “of public Felicity,” a time to express gratitude for the “full Enjoyment of Liberty, civil and religious,” as Melanie Kirkpatrick points out in her charming new book, Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience. In this book, Kirkpatrick not only brings to life the… Read more »
If you have progressed through the virtues, finished your week of justice and thumbed down your chart to virtue number nine you may have reacted much as you did when your mother fed you string beans as a child or when you got a juice box at the door on Halloween. Don’t panic. The idea… Read more »
Justice should have been the easiest of Franklin’s virtues for me. In my day job I’m in the justice business. My principal obligation as a prosecutor is to uphold the integrity of the administration of justice. With the other virtues I had to seek the interpretative assistance of an ethicist; on this virtue I should… Read more »
I remember watching The Jetsons for the first time and wondering why anyone would ever go outside when such entertainment was available at no cost (I didn’t pay the cable bill when I was 12). Thus began my slide to slothfulness. First it was cable television; a veritable cornucopia of viewing options all flowing into… Read more »