CoffeeTime Articles
Is Poverty Better For You Than Wealth?
I can vividly imagine the reactions of most who just read that title. “Are you nuts, Renie B?! Of course, being rich would be better for me than having to drive this old rattletrap of a car, that breaks down every time a wind any stronger than a baby’s breath blows...
Already Unlocked Prison
The angry and resentful young man sat sullenly on the edge of his narrow cot in the cell. He had no idea how long he had been sitting there, body motionless but with his brain racing in high gear. Ben’s pulse rate and stress level had shot through the roof when he...
Integrity Doesn’t Come in an Easy-Open Can
Having integrity. “Doing what you should do, even when no one is watching, and will never know if you did it or not.” It’s not something that is inexpensive and easily obtained for yourself – like a bottle of water. Indeed it is just the opposite, you have to...
Our Automatic Hands-Free World
Many things like our car washes, ATMs, and grocery stores now boast that they have contactless accessibility. “NO TOUCHING, KEEP TO YOUR YOURSELF SO YOU WON’T RISK BEING CONTAMINATED OR INVOLVED.” And that concept works for keeping yourself germ-free in this scary...
Is Being Right – Every Time – Worth it?
You can be absolutely right, have all your logical little ducks lined up perfectly in a row, with all your detailed facts ready at your fingertips to zap your opponent to smithereens… and be dead right. Because insisting on always being right can be a killer. Sure,...
What About Suicide?
Let me give my personal baseline right here at the beginning, and then jump headlong from that starting point. God is the giver of life. He has a plan for every life He creates. And He says it is a good plan. Although, God says life is worth living, it is absolutely...
You’re Gonna Respect Me, Ya’ Hear?
Most people with a beating heart want to be loved. Oh yes, I am certain that psychiatrists would be quick to point out there is a certain tiny percentage of humans who feel no love and have no need to be loved. But overwhelmingly, most of us crave the feeling of warm...
Divorce and Dealing with your Ex
Years ago, right after I began CoffeeTime Column, a friend suggested I write an article addressing ‘Dealing with your ex after the divorce.’ Now, I don’t know much, but I do know that a writer is foolish to attempt to write about an unfamiliar subject. And as I have...
Sleepless and Not in Seattle
Way too often finding yourself lying awake instead of getting your beauty sleep? As many know firsthand, that is an extremely common problem for a lot of people. I won’t bother boring you with the national statistics of this plague, you won’t be interested or...
Old Man Pain is Determined to Win
You are aging, every second you are alive, that is an inescapable fact. And right along with that joyous and party-mood-making pronouncement is another fact. Multiple years of aging most always brings on a certain amount of physical pain. Ready to invite me to your...
Just Put it on my Tab
Two elderly sisters, one widowed and the other never married, were living together. They had decided the year before that because the oldest owned her house, the younger should leave a rented apartment and move into her sister’s second bedroom. After the initial “Move...
Green Bean Cans and Eternity
Where does a person go after death? We need to understand one thing from the beginning. When you draw your last halting shallow breath on this earth, from that point on, you are winging it on your own, with no one to run interference for you. Family ties mean...
Basketball Referees and God
While watching our teenaged son play four years of high school basketball games years ago, we both noticed an absolute truth; Our son could not seem to grasp that he wasn’t able to block every shot that was put up by the opposing team. He obviously believed that it...
I Disagree with God Sometimes
I realize that not everyone sees life as I do. Probably nobody sees life exactly as I do. We are like snowflakes, and science tells us that no two snowflakes are the same. So I accept the fact that what I write in this column probably doesn’t peel your banana...
The Recipient of the Flying Shoe
You are a caregiver. That very much over-stressed, over-worked and under-appreciated person who along with probably many others, holds the anonymous title of WORLD’S MOST PATIENT PERSON. There are likely very few families among our population who have not experienced...