My dear Mahatma Gandhi,
He who is unhappy lends a deaf ear when idle tongues discuss his fate among themselves. But when a voice that he has long known and honoured, a great voice and an earnest one, pierces the vain clamour and calls him by name, he is all attention.
Here is a voice, he thinks, that can but give good counsel and genuine comfort, for he who speaks knows what suffering is; he knows that the sufferer is more in need of comfort than of counsel; and he has both the wisdom to counsel rightly and that simple union of faith and love which alone is the open sesame to true comforting. But what he hears – containing though it does elements of a noble and most praiseworthy conception, such as he expects from this speaker – is yet barren of all application to his peculiar...
Lifestyle
Dear Friends and Family,
By now, you have probably noticed that there is something different about me. I'm conspicuously absent from family get-togethers, tailgating, happy hour, and sadly enough – even some of my kids' school or sports events. If I haven't seen you for awhile and we start talking, my mind probably drifts off into somewhere else, only to zone back in 20 seconds later as I nod and I try to fake like I know what you just said.
Forgive me, it's not intentional – it's really not. If I had my choice, the two of us could sit down for coffee and chat for hours on end and you would have my complete undivided attention.
You see, I am trying to accomplish something for my career and my future that is extremely draining on just about every level – emotionally, financially,...
2,247
Dear Southern Baptist Family
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! These are days in which the Lord is richly blessing the ministry of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. We have the largest student enrollment in our history, the most diverse faculty in our history and the happiest spirit I can recall during my twenty-five years of life on the campus.
However, we regret deeply that these are also days in which tension clouds the relationship between some leaders of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptist Convention. Unfortunately, in such an atmosphere of misunderstanding and mistrust, the positions of others are sometimes misreported or misrepresented. This makes it all the more crucial in such a day to tell the truth plainly.
In recent...
2,332
Dear Members of the Colby Community
We the undersigned faculty, writing from all academic divisions, vigorously oppose the ongoing Miller library renovations at Colby.
The renovations have been hurried, poorly thought-out, damaging to the mission of the College and conducted with inadequate faculty input. Books have disappeared into storage, administrative offices have appeared or will arise where stacks of books once stood*, the reference area has been purged and the central floor looks like a massive waiting room, designed for students and other patrons to look at each other in between Google searches rather than engage in thoughtful contemplation and scholarship.
As teachers, writers, authors, parents and readers, we see the "phases" of library construction moving ahead like...
2,551
Dear Mr. President,
We write to commend you on the historic actions you are taking to update America's policy toward Cuba and Cuban citizens. Our new posture of engagement will advance our national interests and our values by empowering the Cuban people's capacity to work toward a more democratic and prosperous country – conditions that are very much in the U.S. interests. Many of the signers of this letter wrote to you last year calling for exactly these types of changes. We appreciate that you not only recognized that the moment had come to act but did so boldly.
Both that original letter and this one are examples of the broad support these changes have from across the political spectrum. We may disagree on a number of issues, but we've found common ground for a simple reason;...
2,708
Dear Honorable Committee Members,
Thank you for your service to our state. I wish to commend you on your efforts to study the benefits of Cannabis as medicine. Your efforts have advanced the knowledge, the reality and the hope that cannabis will be available in the state of Georgia in the near future.
In particular, I would like to thank Rep. Allen Peake for making this a signature issue that has advanced the debate and moved us closer to legal access.
I would also like to thank Sen. Curt Thompson for his willingness to broaden the debate and create a pathway to more comprehensive legislation that will benefit more patients and potentially provide relief from pain and disease to so many others in need.
While some want to see patients with epilepsy get access, others want to...
2,320
Dear senators
Thank you for your letter of March 9 explaining your system of government. We were unfamiliar with the complexity of your laws. For three years we have been negotiating a nuclear energy agreement with your president. We now realize our mistake. As your letter makes clear, the authority to establish such agreements on behalf of your country rests with your Congress.
We are in your debt for this clarification. Moreover, your letter has prompted us to undertake a broader study of the American political system. What we have learned has opened our eyes. For 35 years, we have treated you as an adversary. Our intelligence agencies told us that your culture and your political system were radically different from ours. We now understand that we were misled. Your country is much...
5,081
Dear President Barack Obama
I appreciate your comments on the "heartache and the sadness and the anger" that many Americans are feeling after the shooting of nine African-American congregants at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
You pointed out that "this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries," and you argued, as you have before, for stricter gun control laws.
I agree. After the torture and death of Freddie Gray, you said that we – as a nation – "have some soul-searching to do" and that race-based police violence was not something new. Indeed, it is not. After the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, you said that Trayvon could have been you "35 years ago," and you pointed out the ways our criminal justice system disproportionately targets...
2,567
Dear Border Crossing Friend
Students today want mobility in more ways than one. They want economic, social, cultural, and vocational mobility. This is why some people study abroad and perhaps that is why you studied abroad. You wanted to cross certain borders that were both visible and invisible. You wanted more than what was right in front of you.
And this is where people like me need your help.
Some students want to cross borders, like you did, but they need help. Now, I don't mean financial, but that may have crossed your mind. And no, I don't mean an address of an international friend, nor do I mean a sneak peek at your photo album. Some students need people like you to shine a light on a path that leads from their study abroad experience in to their first job or career or...
2,508
Dear Friends,
We hope this letter finds you well.
We are writing to inform you that there are things about the Odyssey Study Group (OSG) that you may not be aware of, but you would want to know, as they speak to the validity and legitimacy of some of the group's practices and teachings.
We hope that your first hand experiences of us while we were in the group will enable you to trust us and be open to the possibility that the information we wish to share can be useful to you. In fact you may find that speaking to us will confirm some of the doubts and questions you have personally experienced from time to time about the continued usefulness of this group to your development.
Over the past several weeks we have taken a good hard look at our lives, including how we spend our...
3,010