2014 Archives – Page 12 of 17

A strange forgiveness

1 Comment / Hamilton Spectator, Newspaper columns / April 19, 2014 / 2014, forgiveness, Rwandan genocide, Rwandan genocide 20th anniversary, Rwandan recovery, Rwandan reunification / 4 minutes of reading

The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, April 20, 2014

KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ Forgive and forget is how the old saying goes, but you and I both know that it’s not worth spit, that we’ll never forget certain crimes committed against us, maybe even imagined crimes like those in a recent dream of mine.

It was a nightmare with Africans carrying machetes. I looked out my window. The university grounds where I live was crawling with the killers.

“We won’t kill anyone,” one said. He looked at me through a window of a bedroom where my 10-year-old daughter lay sleeping. “We’ll just cut your arm off.”

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Betrayed by a kiss. Saviour of the world.

6 Comments / Daily Dad / April 18, 2014 / 2014, Good Friday, Jesus, Jesus as Messiah, Judas, Judas' kiss, Judas's disappointment / 3 minutes of reading

Judas, giver of history’s best-known kiss, has always had a bad rap. While Judas was a very capable individual – he was picked to be the treasurer of Christ’s preaching and healing and wandering and laughing troupe for a reason – we know that he was more interested in skimming the coffers and in other

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Dear Mr. Millard – Letter 2 – Have you seen the road to hell?

Leave a Comment / Daily Dad / April 15, 2014 / 2014, a father's influence, death of parents, Dellen Millard, Dellen Millard accused serial killer, father-son relationships, hell, memories of parents, The Road to Perdition, Tim Bosma / 6 minutes of reading

My relationship with my own father has mellowed much over the years. This is what marriage and children and grandchildren and an ocean of separation can do. (I think you know I live in Africa most of the year, the genesis of which is for another conversation at another time.) But there was a time

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Dear Mr. Dellen Millard – Letter 1- Let me share something about evil

7 Comments / Daily Dad / April 11, 2014 / 2014, C.S. Lewis, Dellen Millard, Dellen Millard accused serial killer, disappearance of Laura Babcock, evil, the devil, The Screwtape Letters, Tim Bosma, Tim Bosma's funeral, Tim Bosma's murder / 5 minutes of reading

We don’t give much thought to the devil these days – we’re well beyond all that. The best you might get is a funny t-shirt that says ‘The devil made me do it’ with, say, a picture of a naïve but guilty looking figure beside another with a pitchfork and red leotards. But what if

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Why I support a longer school day

Leave a Comment / Daily Dad / April 8, 2014 / 2014, friendship, good parenting techniques, humour / satire, length of school days, school life, sexuality, Ugandan children, Ugandan school days, Ugandan school life / 3 minutes of reading

It’s dinner time and once again the kids just HAVE to talk about sex, which is quite remarkable considering the only Miley Cyrus they watch is from the days when she was a fully-clothed Hannah Montana who kept her tongue to herself. Of course, the best way to end any kids’ sex talk is to

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God’s not dead. He’s living inside my son.

Leave a Comment / Daily Dad / April 4, 2014 / 2014, bedtime, child's prayer, death, mystery of prayer, power of prayer, prayer, the movie Gravity / 9 minutes of reading

She’s an astronaut, a space walker, a scientist of scientists, way up there in the cosmos, first floating free for some time, just on a tether, then, after some drama, getting into a tiny space capsule, into her driver’s seat of sorts. She is bright and pretty and has a one in ten million view of creation,

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Forgiving our fathers. And mothers. (What a load.)

Leave a Comment / Daily Dad / April 1, 2014 / 2014, forgiveness, forgiving your father and mother; forgiving your parents, good parenting techniques, humour / satire, Leslie Leyland Fields / 2 minutes of reading

If there is one thing I’ve learned about fatherhood since the condition fell on me (like a piano out of a 4th-floor window) it’s that today’s fathers are perfect. Always. Yep. Every day. Sunup to sundown. And because today’s fathers, and mothers too, are perfect, they should be given great honour. I tell my kids this in subtle ways. For instance,

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Dear student who’s cheating: You’re rotting inside out

Leave a Comment / Newspaper columns, The Standard / March 31, 2014 / 2014, African education, African university life, cheating, dishonest gain, education as business, education in Uganda, student pressures / 3 minutes of reading

(The UCU Standard – Monday, March 31, 2014)

MUKONO, UGANDA ✦ It’s a new day, a good day, a day when you’ll be tested. Yes, it’s time for another exam and you, dear UCU student, are out of bed, finished your breakfast and walking with a confident smile.

This is why today is such a fine day: you know the answers, every one of them. Because you know the questions too.

Nobody is suspecting that you’re a cheater because you know the game and you play it with skill

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