My Eyes Are Wide Open To The

Optimism Is A Matter Optics, Of Seeing What You Want To See And Not Seeing What You Don't Want To See. Hope, On The Other Hand, Is A Christian Virtue. It Is The Unblinking Acknowledgment Of All That Militates Against Hope, And The Unrelenting Refusal To Despair. We Have Not The Right To Despair, And, Finally, We Have Not The Reason To Despair

Where Orthodoxy Is Optional, Orthodoxy Will Sooner Or Later Be Proscribed.

Consumerism Is, Quite Precisely, The Consuming Of Life By The Things Consumed. It Is Living In A Manner That Is Measured By Having Rather Than Being... And Consumerism Is Hardly The Sin Of The Rich. The Poor, Driven By Discontent And Envy, May Be As Consumed By What They Do Not Have As The Rich Are Consumed By What They Do Have. The Question Is Not, Certainly Not Most Importantly, A Question About Economics. It Is First And Foremost A Cultural And Moral Problem Requiring A Cultural And Moral Remedy.

Religion As A Human Phenomenon Is As Riddled Through With Potential For Both Good And Evil As Any Other Phenomenon.

All My Life I Have Prayed To God That I Should Remain Religiously Orthodox, Culturally Conservative, Politically Liberal And Economically Pragmatic.