One of the greatest dancers of all time was Fred Astaire, a movie star in many 1930’s and 40’s musicals. He was the master of grace and style. Off camera, Fred Astaire would occasionally do something unexpected on the ballroom floor. After dancing with a professional partner for a few minutes, he would disengage from her and grab the hand of a woman seated in the audience inviting her by his gesture to dance. Within a few seconds she was dancing beautifully with him and their movements almost seemed choreographed. People were immediately suspicious...

One day when I was in college, I remember one of my professors going to the chalkboard and drawing a large circle about two feet in diameter.  He looked out at us and asked, “What is that?”  We all said, “It’s a circle.”  I heard my voice over of everyone else’s. I usually felt dumb in his class so I was thrilled to be able to know the answer to something. He said, “Now, would you call it a perfect circle?” We quickly blurted out our answer, “No!” Then he said, “Okay, maybe it’s not a perfect circle. But, could you accept that it...

Years ago I learned why we call some things objects.  A wise person I know placed a chair between me and him, pointed to it and asked, “Is this an object?”  I said, “Yes, of course it is.” He then said, “Walk toward me and see what happens.”  I replied, “I can’t do that.  The chair is in the way.”  “Okay, suppose you tried to walk toward me and somehow you were able to move right through the chair and reach me.  Would you still call it an object?”  I thought a minute and said, “I guess not.”  “What would you call it then?...

I read a disturbing statistic the other day in the news.  The article stated that reported incidents of domestic violence were up 300% in the areas around the Gulf of Mexico where workers had lost their jobs.  The job losses were attributed to the oil leak and the moratorium on new drilling.  I can imagine how frustrating and demoralizing it would be for men and women who are used to working on the water every day to be stuck without a job, helpless to correct the situation and waiting for public assistance or compensation from BP to provide the money...