Just last night, I stumbled across a couple yellowed pages of notebook paper scrawled with my handwriting. I started reading my thoughts from 18 years ago. And yet, despite the passage of nearly two decades, it’s as if time has folded in on itself. The anchors of my mind are still set by the words of my father. Dad said it best. ...

"Paying it forward" may be a modern phrase. But an early theologian may have first expressed its essence with this alliterative quote: "We are not to throw away those things which can benefit our neighbor. Goods are called good because they can be used for good: they are instruments for good in the hands of those who use them properly." ...

Most of us are eager to turn the page on 2020, put the year in the rearview mirror and move on. As we set our hopes on the promise of returning to some semblance of normal in 2021 after our personal and work lives have been totally disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we can begin formulating new goals and resolutions to be met in the upcoming year. ...

If you resist making New Year's resolutions because you fear they set you up for failure, consider the alternative. If you continue to try, you cannot fail. If you fail to try, you’ve failed already. What feels like failure is often just a curve in the road. Stay with it. You’ve already made some progress. Don’t lose ground. Head into the new year with hope. If at first you don't succeed, you know the rest! ...

Dad knew he couldn’t just mandate upstanding moral character; he had to model it in order for us kids to follow his example. He would go out of his way to practice kindness. My dad demonstrated that the spirit of giving should be a natural outflow of everyday life. If you would like to join together with like-minded people to spread kindness, consider joining From Cleveland to Kindland. This citywide initiative inspires the Cleveland area to be a community of kindness and a model for the rest of the nation to follow. ...

My dad was a NO EXCUSES kind of guy. He would brush me off whenever I’d start in with a complaint, interjecting, “There are no ifs, ands or buts about it!” He typically sided with the authorities, not me. This time was different. ...

My father was always warning me to watch my words. If I didn’t have anything nice to say, I should just bite my tongue. These timeless lessons regarding the negative and positive power of our words remain resonant — especially during the current pandemic, election season and recession. Everyone needs to be cut a little more slack and given a bit more grace than usual. Kindness over criticism wins the day. ...

Don't be your own worst enemy. I see people (including myself) getting in their own way all the time. When we focus on ourselves and our abilities or vulnerabilities, we trip over ourselves. In contrast, when we focus on contributing to the solution and supporting the people around us, problem-solving and goal-setting become much more achievable. ...