As others have mentioned...lots of wisdom in that story and it's well told as well. Many thanks.

I fear that the art of "making a home", as you put it, is unappreciated and increasingly lost in our time.  The loss you suffered at a young age is blessedly infrequent these days, but whether through divorce or parental distraction, a sense of "home" and the emotional security that implies is denied children.

Of course, kids can survive and recover in the end, as you did, but it's a loss nevertheless.

I'd add "inbred" and even "corrupt", or perhaps "corrupting" is the better term. As you say, the system has been rigged for generations to force new members into line. Anyone willing to break with the faux gentility of the institution and give some expression to the frustration and anger of the people is getting noticed. We'll see if it can be sustained.

More, the dignity of the institution is much overblown, largely a matter of political theater, and an insult, in a way, to the more real dignity, dedication and importance of other American's contributions. There are plenty of people in this country who daily face up to real issues with courage and get results that should put Congress to shame, were they able to feel any.

Apparently,  it is a "thing" there, but for very practical purposes. To summarize for those who don't follow the link, Russians drive with dash cams to prove innocence in accidents, which are quite common, and for protection against corrupt traffic cops or scam artists.

So its all about collecting evidence for court. That's why cops have dash cams; that's why protesters carry hand-cams. That's why stores have security cams.  Don't you feel naked going about without your personal protection cams.

Funny how Orwell worried that about the cams pointed at us. Turns out we'll all have cams of our own. Funny world.

My what a fine essay.  Goodness but that man had a talent for words.

With hindsight we can see that the left, attentive perhaps to Dr. King's work and words, took the wrong lessons. As King recounts,  the Federal authority, principally the courts, were instrumental in many of the victories against local abuses of civil rights. The courts acted to enforce the Constitution, and rightly so. But the proper lesson to draw from the specific battles of that era is the special power of the Constitution, not the Federal authority.

At other times and on other issues, the roles have been reversed, and local powers have protected Americans against Federal abuse, again relying on the Constitution as a shield. How strange, then, to hear some who call themselves "progressive" dismiss as an impediment the document that has been the source of so much human progress. Federal power was successfully wielded in the civil rights struggle, and the left fell in love with that power, and not with the principals it was enforcing.

And of course, the left is embarrassed by the Reverend Dr. King's religious language and ideas. Some quite explicitly cannot forgive him his faith.

As long as we're recommending T.S. Elliot I'll add a vote for the "Four Quartets" (especially "Little Gidding")

And for shorter works one can drop into the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins most anywhere and strike paydirt. His use of language and rhythm is striking. Be sure to read them out loud.

Obviously, all these works have religious undertones, and even "overtones", so one needs to be accepting of that...

Mollie, your penultimate paragraph sums it up best.  Think about how you are contributing to the situation, and if you don't like it, don't participate.

I, like you, won't be shopping on Thanksgiving or the next day, for a number of reasons including the one you offer. However, with the young folks home for the holiday we will likely need to make quick run to the supermarket, and I'm grateful for the hard-working folks who keep that place open and stocked.

With economic storms on the horizon any business would be smart to grab revenue whenever it can. Holiday work is hard on the employees, but not nearly so hard as unemployment, and we can expect to see folks endure much more serious troubles in the coming year.

What a struggle these days... not to fall into cynicism and despair.  One can only say a prayer for these children and hope that they can overcome their parent's self-absorption. And hope that this fashion passes on.

Now, would anyone be surprised if there are soon angry demands for the government to pay for these expensive procedures?

Ya know... I can think of some scenarios where "private banking", on perhaps a larger scale than an ice cream parlor, would be a very attractive option.  Little islands of relative safety in a very stormy economy.

Can't say I'm surprised. Inflation is an attractive option for a government sunk in debt, so sooner or later it had to come up. This is feeling more and more like the late '70's, eh?

I wonder if we miss the moral aspect of market freedom because of how markets are discussed (and defined) in the much colder and limited language of economics, with its convenient fictions of the perfectly rational buyer and the cost/benefit analysis for pure profit optimization. There is little room for a moral consideration in most economic thinking.

But people who live and work in real markets know that decisions are actually based on many, more subtle factors, and that people daily opt to spend their time, attention and money is ways that confound the purely rational.

As Fr. Sirico implies, our transcendence  will become "physical" or realized in the many decisions we make about how we will participate in a free market, embedded in a free society (there is a free market of ideas, and of words, in addition to a free market of goods).

If remove the freedom,  those choices lose their meaning, and lose any hope of transcendence.

Great story, Peter. It reminds me also of how you found the idea for the "tear down this wall" line in an interview with German citizens. A great example of how a great leader captures the thoughts and dreams of the people and gives them voice. The difference between leading and "ruling", or of speaking for the people rather than at the people. 

Great list. Very much in line with my experience in consumer packaged goods, especially #4 and #5.

In the 80's I managed introduction of a food product that was never test marketed. Rather we read our competitor's test market faster than they did and went straight to national based on his success. The competitor wanted to wait to see how the test played out. We saw the first three months data, and saw the signs of success, and went for it. We got out first and won the lead position.  Sometimes it helps not to have the big research dollars of the giants. You cannot bury yourself in analysis.

And about being a specialist up against generalists... the giant corp has a lot of products to think about, and is involved in real battles with other giants on the major product lines. By competing against their lesser and more neglected line items, the specialist can avoid getting stomped on. You are probably up against their most junior and inexperienced manager too. I got to meet my counterpart from the "giant" at industry functions. He was not a happy guy.

I have little confidence that Brown's proposals will realize even the gains he hopes for, which are too little anyway. In a year or two we will be wondering how the new taxes netted so little new revenue, and how the "cuts" that made it through the legislature resulted in no real reduction in revenue. We have many, perhaps all of the systemic ills of the Mediterranean nations, and about as much chance of facing up to the problem short of a major crisis. (Hmm, now we have a "Mediterranean Economy" to go along with our famed "Mediterranean Climate")

Despite the bleak picture in the fiscal data, I don't sense much feeling of panic or even serious concern amongst the public here. Most folks aren't thinking about it. The few that do follow such things, the fiscal policy wonks, are generally cynical about our prospects. Not an encouraging situation.

Credit to the Gov for raising the issue, but expecting courageous action from the CA legislature is a fool's bet.

Despite being addressed by name in the speech,  Gorbachev was not the intended audience.  I expect that Reagan was more interested in what the German and American people would think of the speech than Gorby.

Looking forward to it. Shame we have to wait until October. This is a subject we need to talk about throughout this election season.

Moreover they believe that even the small lives of individual citizens are too complicated to operate without being directed by politicians.

I guess it all depends on whether it is the God in heaven or the "god" in the White House that you trust to run the show.

(Great quote, btw,  typical insight from  Sowell)