FIRE ROAD - The Napalm Girl's Journey through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness and Peace, by Kim Phúc Phan Thi. June 8, 1972, a nine-year-old girl had the clothes burned off her back by napalm during the Vietnam war. The photo taken by AP photographer Nick Ut won him a Pulitzer Prize and … Continue reading Fire Road – a book review
Author: Bob Goodnough
Another use for a station wagon
Why is this style of car called a station wagon? And what's with the faux wood trim? Well, the original station wagons were horse drawn conveyances for hauling passengers and baggage between hotels and railway stations. When motor cars started to become common, some people had the bright idea of putting such a wagon box … Continue reading Another use for a station wagon
The Toronto Interlude
There was a bond between my mother and I that never existed between me and my Dad. The bond with my mother was established at birth and nurtured by years of talking together, working together and playing together. My older cousins have told me of their appreciation for their Uncle Walter. The man they described … Continue reading The Toronto Interlude
Walking Towards Hope – a book review
One day in October of 1997 Paul Beckingham, his wife Mary and one of their young sons were taking a Kenyan boy back to his home on the edge of Nairobi. They came over a hill to find a massive Kenyan military transport coming towards them and taking up the whole road. Their lives changed … Continue reading Walking Towards Hope – a book review
A Teenage Failure
It was good to be home again, to eat my mother’s cooking, to sleep in my own bed in my own room, to help out around the farm and to visit the old buffalo rubbing stone, my rock of refuge. I was sure that the people in town thought of me as already a failure … Continue reading A Teenage Failure
The Gate of the Year
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known … Continue reading The Gate of the Year
A Vagrant Without a Clue
I didn’t report the theft of the money to anyone. I never considered asking anyone for help or advice. To admit the theft would be to admit how stupid I was and face the humiliation of being publicly denounced for my stupidity. That was my state of mind at least. I don’t remember many details … Continue reading A Vagrant Without a Clue
Brain benumbed by beastly biting cold
We are in the midst of a Canada-wide cold wave, with temperatures 15 to 20 degrees below seasonal averages. (Those are Celsius degrees, too. Each one is worth 1.8 Fahrenheit degrees.) The National Post reports that it was colder in Winnipeg this morning than it was at the North Pole, the South Pole and the … Continue reading Brain benumbed by beastly biting cold
Boxing Day musings
Feasting on Christmas Day has a long and noble tradition and one is at risk of being branded a heretic if he suggests it might not be necessary. Noble in that first sentence is meant to be taken literally – for many centuries it was only the nobility and the rich who could afford to … Continue reading Boxing Day musings
The Logos
Greek philosophers believed the world had always existed and realized that there must be some active principle that made the world function in an orderly fashion. Heraclitus, Zeno and Plato described this principle that ordered and maintained the universe and permeated all reality as the Logos. Logos means word, reason, plan and all that might … Continue reading The Logos
Flatlander Faith 