Sentimental hogwash!
Take this George Bailey character, a miserable little clerk with no securities, no stocks, no bonds. A failure.
What’s so wonderful about his life? He’s a starry-eyed dreamer who gives up his travel and career ambitions for the sake of his high ideals, so called, and ends up a warped and frustrated young man playing nursemaid to a bunch of garlic eaters.
You’d have to be a common, ordinary yokel to think that’s wonderful.
Stuck in a measly old town and living in a drafty semi-condemned house, this sucker is taunted by the sounds of train whistles and…
Despite the Thai garlic, the shoelace-sized Chinese green beans, wearing flip-flops at the dinner table, and, you know, being in Bangkok, it was rather American Thanksgiving.
By David G. Allan
Editor’s note: This story was originally published November 2002 on the website TheDharmaBums.com. David’s CNN.com column, The Wisdom Project, can be subscribed to here: https://tinyletter.com/wisdomproject
BANGKOK — We are farang. Foreigners. The Thai word actually refers to the French who were the first foreigners to come to Thailand and the word has been co-opted to mean all Westerners.
We live in the farang section of Bangkok. There are Pizza Huts…
Turning a profit appears to be the goal of this rock festival
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on July 15, 1994 in The Diamondback, the daily newspaper of the University of Maryland, College Park. The opinions, dated political references and poor grammar expressed here do not necessarily reflect the writer’s current opinions, knowledge and journalistic skill.
The biggest sell-out of this year and perhaps this entire decade has to be Woodstock ’94. …
It wasn’t necessary to bomb the Japanese to end World War II
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on August 4, 1994 in The Diamondback, the daily newspaper of the University of Maryland, College Park. The opinions, dated political references and poor grammar expressed here do not necessarily reflect the writer’s current opinions, knowledge and journalistic skill.
“My God, what have we done?”
-Captain Robert Lewis, in the log book of the Enola Gay.
This summer marked the 50th anniversary of the invasion on Normandy Beach, France. The D-Day anniversary marks a bloody event that…
Standing for the right not to stand for the national anthem
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on March 25, 1996 in The Diamondback, the daily newspaper of the University of Maryland, College Park. The opinions, dated political references and poor grammar expressed here do not necessarily reflect the writer’s current opinions, knowledge and journalistic skill.
Next time you’re at a sporting event try this little experiment in non-conformity: When everyone stands up for the Star-spangled Banner, watch and listen instead of singing along and cheering. You will find the experience slightly frightening. …
Saving the world’s most precious resource should be a top priority this global holiday — for all people
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on April 17, 1995 in The Diamondback, the daily newspaper of the University of Maryland, College Park. The opinions, dated science and poor grammar expressed here do not necessarily reflect the writer’s current opinions, knowledge and journalistic skill.
Trees are the kindest things I know.
They do no harm, they simply grow
And shed a shade for sleepy cows
And gather birds among their boughs.
— a children’s poem
Earth Day…
It may seem counterintuitive, but many families and friends of murder victims do not find closure in the death penalty. Their pain is revisited, not put to rest, with every legal appeal and news story about the case.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published in May 2001, on the site WorkingForChange.com. The opinions, dated cultural references and poor grammar expressed here do not necessarily reflect the author’s current opinions, knowledge and journalistic skill. You can sign up for David’s current CNN column, The Wisdom Project, here: https://tinyletter.com/wisdomproject
With the execution of Timothy McVeigh postponed, we…
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Feb. 13, 1995 in The Diamondback, the daily newspaper of the University of Maryland, College Park. The opinions, dated cultural references and poor grammar expressed here do not necessarily reflect the writer’s current opinions, knowledge and journalistic skill.
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and whether it is your favorite holiday or you loathe its annual return, it remains the one time of the year most appropriate to reflect (and write) on matters of the heart.
This is not a mushy essay about my girlfriend and I or the story…
Whether you want to worship the sun, for which the day is named, or a Christian God, or just your leisure time, enjoy it before you’re reminded that tomorrow is Monday.
This is part 7 in a 7-part series on the meaning, facts, pop culture and inspiration contained within the history and psychology of each day of the week.
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday| Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
As its name implies, Sunday is the day around which all other days revolve. Depending on your perspective, it is the end of the week…
Saturday is so clearly the best day of the week that only a contrarian gadfly (or someone who has to work that day) would argue otherwise.
This is part 6 in a 7-part series on the meaning, facts, pop culture and inspiration contained within the history and psychology of each day of the week.
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday| Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
The superhero has just flown into our narrative. It was looking bad there for awhile, the dark forces of the previous days had us firmly in their grip, and it…
David Allan
CNN’s Editorial Director of Features (Travel, Style, Wellness, Science), plus The Wisdom Project column. This account represents my personal views, not CNN’s.
