It was a close friend who sent me this wonderful story, and I thank him for doing so. ‘A few years ago in downtown Denver, my friend, Scott, and I saw something tiny and insignificant that changed the world, but no one else even seemed to notice. It was one…
A Lifetime of Empathy..!
She was young and her eyes blazed with excitement and joy as she looked at me, “I’ve got a first class with distinction,” she said. “Congratulations!” I said and hugged her. I looked at her and remembered the same face streaked with tears two years ago as she learned she…
Look at the Process..!
Something I love doing when on the treadmill every morning is to listen to good talks, and this morning it was by a very famous preacher, who said, “People hear me preaching and say, ‘I would like to become as good a preacher as you, and do you know what…
Education without Educating..!
With many state governments insisting that all students, whatever their marks, get admission in college, I wondered how the colleges were going to cope. The principal of the local college walked with me into one of the classrooms in his college. “It’s going to be tough for you”, I said….
Putting God and Ethics First..!
Whenever I’m called to speak at a Rotary meeting, I am fascinated by the Four Way Test, which Rotarians repeat together at the start. The Rotary Four-Way Test is a guiding principle for ethical decision-making, developed by Herbert J. Taylor in 1932. Here’s its story: Herbert J. Taylor, a prominent…
External Affairs and the Constitution..!
It didn’t shock anyone to hear that North Korean troops had been sent to fight for Russia. Why? Yes, why wasn’t it a shock? Ponder for a moment about North Korea, the dictatorship, the total suppression of human rights, their nuclear pile up and their constant threat to the world!…
A Festival of Lights..!
One of the most beautiful sights of my childhood was to see little flames dancing on the compound walls of my neighbors, every Diwali: Not the colored bulbs of today, so standard and artificial, but actual little flames, and as little lights danced out of small earthen pots filled with…
Faith and Work Go Together..!
Most of us spend a greater part of our lives worrying about things not going right. Right? But did just worrying about a situation ever change anything? Did it make your wife start loving you, or your husband faithful? Or did it make a test score higher? Did it put…
An Aerial View and Ground Zero..!
It’s just been an hour since I returned from an incredibly lovely holiday, and in my imagination, a local politician standing for the state elections walks across as I get out of the car. “How was the trip sir,” he asks as I rub my back, “I suppose, you took…
Growing Old and Feeling Young..!
Today I’m growing old, but feeling young! How often I meet people who fight the fact they are growing old. Old age is a gift. I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometimes…
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.