By T J Martin The Magic Words, Please and … Some people are notoriously difficult to shop for! Lest I be taken for an Ebenezer, though, I submit to the yearly ritual of second-guessing sizes, tastes, needs, wants, and frivolities of family members—usually at the last possible moment. Any post-Christmas reprieve is short, however, given
By T J Martin Although I have known many as friends, neighbours, teachers, even beloved family members, I am not a Catholic—either by training or faith. I have attended Catholic services, both in small churches and venerable cathedrals such as New York’s Saint Patrick’s where I marvelled at the beauty and reverence of Christmas Mass.
By T.J. Martin I believe in the rule of law. From its lofty concepts such as equal representation and presumption of innocence to its more mundane applications, the rule of law provides a sturdy, time-tested foundation for how we conduct our lives. I respect the law and those, like peace officers, whose job it is
By T J Martin In Good Faith: Anthony Sanchelli, One Man’s Experience Perhaps now, after almost three years, memories of those dark, fear-filled days have begun to fade. It has become easier to dismiss the isolation. The contagion. The lockdowns. Schools and businesses shuttered. Travel and mobility restricted or forbidden. But have we forgotten the
By T J Martin I’ve always had a problem forgiving. Despite the Biblical injunction, despite bouncy life coaches, despite my better angels, forgiveness is hard work! Lately, though, I have begun to wonder whether my difficulty forgiving is more physiology than moral failure, whether something far older and more innate is at work. In each
By T J Martin Truth: The Ultimate Condolence Forget religion. Forget politics. There’s a new unmentionable these days. A new elephant occupies the room—ungainly, bulky, but largely silent. Most people, out of respect and decorum, will not ask. But the shocking spate of unexplained and untimely deaths begs the unvoiced questions: “Was he jabbed?” “Did
By T J Martin Germany in the 1930s. Hitler’s Third Reich rising. We’ve all viewed the footage. And we’ve all recoiled in horror at its scenes: Mass processions singing, circling, marching; swastikas dancing, torches waving in the darkness; books tossed into flames, rising as smoke and ash. Narrating, a voice-over calmly intones the words of
By T J Martin “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Winston Smith [main protagonist] is an anachronism, first entering the public consciousness in 1949 with the publication by George Orwell of his seminal work 1984.1 Poor, sad Winston embodied Orwell’s fictional glimpse into a dark dystopia, then