By: Christy Liner on August 29, 2024
Prior to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, my understanding of the Israel-Middle east conflict was limited to casual and sporadic bits of information spread throughout my life. I have vague composite memories of car bombings and other attacks playing on the evening news throughout my childhood. Growing up in a conservative Christian…
By: Jennifer Eckert on August 28, 2024
Bethlehem, Israel, 2020 What I knew about Israel before the 7th of October, and what was that based upon? Before the tragic terrorist attack on October 7th perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli civilians, I had gained a fair amount of knowledge about Israel and the enduring conflicts over territory and religious ideologies. My understanding came…
By: Debbie Owen on August 28, 2024
Large-scale human conflicts (and many small-scale conflicts) inevitably arise around concepts of ownership: “This is mine…” This desire for ownership could be about land, or water, or antiquities, or a variety of other tangible objects. But what is at the heart of the concept of “Mine!”? It’s a fear of loss. But when we dig…
By: Adam Cheney on August 28, 2024
Previous knowledge of the Israel conflict I grew up in a church that held to a traditional Zionist perspective when it came to Israel. Essentially, the return of the modern nation-state of Israel was the fulfillment of a prophecy that was going to usher in the Apocalypse. This might be overstated and simplified a bit.…
By: Ryan Thorson on August 28, 2024
“I can’t believe I am here again!” I stared across the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. This special and remarkable place that I had visited now three times, forever etched in my mind, and a place I think of longingly almost every day I’m away. Below me the white sepulchers of…
By: Graham English on August 28, 2024
In The Palestine-Israeli Conflict- A Very Short Introduction, Martin Bunton traces the tumultuous recent history between Israel and Palestine. Bunton reduces this conflict to a struggle between two nations over land.[1] In my journey to this region, the conflict was palpable, and I was struck by the irony of the prevalence of conflict in “The…
By: Joel Zantingh on August 28, 2024
By breaking down the history into four historical periods, The Ottoman, The British, The Palestinian (partition), and the American eras of war and international involvement, Martin Bunton helps us see a snapshot of these important periods in an even-longer conflicting story spanning millennia. And even though this was published over a decade ago, I still…
By: Diane Tuttle on August 26, 2024
Canadian History Professor, Martin Bunton chronicled the last 120 years of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in his book The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, A Very Short Introduction.[1] While far from exhaustive of the thousands of years that the conflict has been raging, the book gave me a better understanding of many of the struggles in the area and…
By: Jeff Styer on August 26, 2024
Without really knowing why I remember growing up hearing people say that there will never be peace in the Middle East. I knew that Israel as a nation was re-established after WWII and that there had been conflict over the years that resulted from the Promised Land being given back to Israel. I heard terms…
By: Akwese on April 18, 2024
I’ve been thinking a lot about the process (i.e., the time and energy) it takes to create routines that sustain positive change in our lives. This semester, we’ve been reading various books that offer some helpful insight; however, just because we’ve gained new knowledge doesn’t mean we’ve been able to apply it as wisdom in…
By: Christy Liner on April 18, 2024
This has been an intense week. After a long week at work and the end-of-semester writing assignments, I was grateful to have a light, enjoyable, and practical reading. The general idea behind Clear Thinking is that our subconscious responses are often counter to our better judgment.[1] Parrish uses the first half of his book to…
By: Julie O'Hara on April 18, 2024
I was not very far into Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish and it felt familiar. The premise of the book is to distill the best of research and wisdom about thinking into action steps leading to repeatable results.[1] The method is to make small decisions along the way which enable people to be in good…
By: Jennifer Eckert on April 18, 2024
All the books we have been reading lately about thinking… really have me thinking! I love dogs, but how much DNA could I possibly have in common with my brute-force 117-pound Bernese Mountain pup? The answer is a surprising 84 percent.[1] In the opening pages of his book, Clear Thinking, author Shane Parrish acknowledges that…
By: Debbie Owen on April 18, 2024
It’s very hard to watch someone you love and care about struggle with being sad. I have a good friend–let’s call her Jane–who has had a lot of changes in her life over the last year. Some of those changes have happened “to” her. Some are decisions that she and her family have made… but…
By: Shela Sullivan on April 18, 2024
Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results by Shane Parrish [1] provides practical tools to recognize crossroads moments, make better decisions and apply clear thinking to what truly matters in life. Shane shares a 4-step framework to navigate those moments effectively. Creating Space for Clear Thinking [2]: Parrish emphasizes that clear thinking is not…
By: Ryan Thorson on April 18, 2024
Shane Parrish’s book, Clear Thinking, was a great book to end the semester on. This simple but helpful text has reminded me of many of the things we’ve been pondering over this term together, as well as other leadership learnings I’ve experienced along the way. Parrish mentions the importance in his introduction of being in a…
By: Kari on April 18, 2024
My phone kept ringing and ringing. Multiple calls from multiple unknown numbers kept showing up on my “missed calls” screen. I turned my phone on silent and was only answering calls from known friends. Friday night. All day Saturday. On Sunday one of the callers left a voicemail message, then another one, and still another…
By: Daren Jaime on April 18, 2024
Living in suburban areas, having a vehicle is a necessity. I will never forget how a lifelong friend of mine called me up, asking if I could assist him as his car was having mechanical difficulties. He asked me to follow him to the mechanic, drop his vehicle off, take him to work and be…
By: Chad Warren on April 17, 2024
Coaching Little League baseball in the United States is both a challenging and fascinating sociological experience. On the one hand, you have the challenge of breaking down the complexities of baseball into “bite-sized,” understandable chunks. Seeking to find a clear and compelling way to explain to a 10-year-old that they cannot just keep running around…
By: Nancy Blackman on April 17, 2024
INTRODUCTION Chris and I were at Target looking for something, I can’t remember what, and I spotted a t-shirt that had the words, “Bad Choices Make Good Stories.” Knowing that Chris would understand the double entendre, I grabbed it and held it up for him to see. He smiled. “Would you wear it?” I asked.…
