Articles in Deep Thoughts
When the state is unjust, citizens may use justifiable violence

If you see police choking someone to death – such as Eric Garner, the 43-year-old black horticulturalist wrestled down on the streets of New York City in 2014 – you might choose to pepper-spray them …
Let America Be America Again – Poem by Langston Hughes

Heard this point this morning and had to put it here. How wonderful. How true.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda: the haunting regret of failing our ideal selves

Psychologist Tom Gilovich and a former Cornell graduate student have found people are haunted more by regrets about failing to fulfill their hopes and dreams than by regrets about failing to fulfill their responsibilities.
Forsaken dreams. …
Is meditating on death like putting on a fur coat in summer?

Memento mori – invitations to reflect on our own mortality – have been common throughout history. Two ancient traditions that made reflection on death central to their paths are Buddhism and Stoicism. For both, the …
Dread accompanies me through life but it is not without consolation

One morning, my father died at home. I awoke to a call for help – my name shouted once, loudly, desperately, fearfully, by my mother – ran into my parents’ bedroom, and found my father …
What Skill is Hard to Learn But will Payoff

Taming your mind is one of the hardest skill to learn but pays off in the longer run. Usually this involves self-evaluation and accountability. I will list a few skills, which point towards the master …
Before you can be with others, first learn to be alone

In 1840, Edgar Allan Poe described the ‘mad energy’ of an ageing man who roved the streets of London from dusk till dawn. His excruciating despair could be temporarily relieved only by immersing himself in …
A Son’s Race to Give His Dying Father Artificial Immortality

The first voice you hear on the recording is mine. “Here we are,” I say. My tone is cheerful, but a catch in my throat betrays how nervous I am. Then, a little grandly, I …
The meanings of life

Parents often say: ‘I just want my children to be happy.’ It is unusual to hear: ‘I just want my children’s lives to be meaningful,’ yet that’s what most of us seem to want for …
Lessons in family management from a Roman of noble birth

Raising a family is the most important duty a man has. Without children the state has no future, and if those children are not brought up properly then that future is bleak. When there is …
What the childless fathers of existentialism teach real dads

Existentialists encourage their readers to take full responsibility for the course of their lives, and also to venture beyond one’s self-imposed limits. This is what Nietzsche means when he commands us to ‘give birth to …
There’s no emotion we ought to think harder about than anger

There’s no emotion we ought to think harder and more clearly about than anger. Anger greets most of us every day – in our personal relationships, in the workplace, on the highway, on airline trips …
Black America Is Leaving While Staying Put

Jimmie Williams joins demonstrators in a protest outside of City Hall calling on Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign on December 11, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. A recently released video of the shooting of Laquan McDonald …
Time waits for no one. How can you plan for the life you want to live?

Five small steps to help you plan for life’s surprises. #PromotedPost
The Washington Post dives into a theory originally put forth by Paul Janet in 1897: We perceive the first years of our lives to be …
I feel like time wasting when reading

Read Gary Wu‘s answer to
I feel like I’m wasting my time when I’m reading. Is that wrong? on Quora
50 Years After the Moynihan Report, Examining the Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration

Politicians are suddenly eager to disown failed policies on American prisons, but they have failed to reckon with the history. Reconsidering Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s report on “The Negro Family,” 50 years later.
“lower-class behavior in our …