To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. In AD 165, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a virus brought the Roman Empire to its knees. A deadly epidemic swept across the Mediterranean world. Historians guess that it was smallpox, making its first incursion into a population that had no immunity. Whole cities and provinces were abandoned and fell into ruin. … Read more »
On a summer day in 1986, Lauren Schroff walked up to the intersection of 56th and Broadway in midtown Manhattan. She was a single, 35-year-old marketing exec who was helping fuel USA Today’s meteoric rise to “the nation’s newspaper.” As she prepared to cross the street an 11-year-old black youth, a panhandler, asked, “Miss, do you have any loose change?”… Read more »
Norman Borlaug may be the most remarkable person you’ve never heard of. The American agronomist, who died in 2009 at the age of 95, revolutionized global food supplies. In the words of former Minnesota Senator Rudy Boschwitz, “Norman Borlaug is the first person in history to save a billion human lives.” Hunger has always stalked humanity. In France alone between… Read more »
When Dick and Judy Hoyt became parents on January 10, 1962, it quickly became evident that something had gone terribly wrong. The umbilical cord was wrapped around their son’s neck. Because of oxygen deprivation to his brain, little Rick had cerebral palsy. He would never be able to walk or talk. Numerous physicians assured the Hoyts that their son was… Read more »
