Stoicism and the invasion of Ukraine: What I now know
Stoicism preaches equanimity, even in the face of ongoing evil - no easy feat
The second generation: Life as a child of Ukrainian immigrants
I doubt kids in Ukraine did more Ukrainian things in any given week than I did. betwen the ages of 8 and 15.
Growing up working class, I wanted to be something else
Born in Canada, I grew up in a working-class Ukrainian-speaking household.
Our house is not a “Very, very fine house”
Our house sucks - it has more faults & flaws than your average contractor could document in a day. But it's the best home ever.
Competition: Its unexpected value at every stage of life
Competition sometimes gets a bad rap - a mega-mart undercutting the mom-and-pop shop or the win-at-all-costs coach.
Grief that plumbed my depths – a new experience
I was 64 before I lost someone whose death I felt at my very core. By that time, I’d lost both my parents and two high school basketball teammates, but none of these caused deep grief, at least not at the time.
Cry if we must
Whether we cry or not when we grieve, we must not deny love transformed, as we would be lesser for it.
Children: The most unimaginable loss of all
Children are supposed to bury their parents, not the other way around
Death: What loss would make me grieve truly and deeply?
Death was always on my periphery when I was a child, but I never had reason to cry for anyone until much later