How we go out matters. The last thing we do in life actually happens after we are gone, when the will is read. For most of us, it's our only postmortem message to the world. Many people seem to think that their will is their last chance to shit on people, to let them know…
Pollyanna Western Christianity
I have noticed something about western Christianity lately. Across all perspectives, from conservative through moderate to progressive, there is an assumption that we all live and always have lived perfect lives. They act as if we are all the family from Leave it to Beaver or from Cosby. Parents are always wonderful, they are never…
What if you died and nobody cared?
My father died a couple of weeks ago. I found out last Thursday, but he died the Friday before that. The only reason I found out is that my brother's ex-wife lives in Florida a few doors away from someone who used to live in the same town outside Milwaukee where my father and his…
Decline, Death, and Family Matters
Nothing brings out skeletons from any family closet quite like decline and looming or actual death of matriarchs, patriarchs, and those in the family who wish they were either. In truth, it doesn't matter who is close to death and what our relationship to them might be, death brings out the worst in us. You…
Craig Bergland 