The Psychology of Killing
Dec23

The Psychology of Killing

by Michael Fogler On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Revised and Updated Edition 2009 by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman; published by Back Bay Books. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is a former army Ranger, paratrooper, and psychology professor at West Point.   He retired from the army in 1998 to devote himself to the study of “killology” — a term he coined. Killology looks at why we humans have killed one...

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What it Means to Be a Man Today

by David McCalib (Written circa 2 A.M. Sunday, 12/19/2010) These are challenging circumstances to focus on this now, in a cold room with a migraine at 2 A.M.; I’d rather be warm under five layers or in a hot tub or gently swinging in a hammock on a tropical Pacific island paradise, but I will do my best to focus on this idea, this task that flashed out of nowhere after I was asked to write something and envisioned writing it. What...

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A New Perspective
Dec21

A New Perspective

by Ben Easton Plunging men into darkness, we sweep their canvases clean, silencing their stories, but inviting their soul-searching truths. Listening to voices hushed for too long, we create a sacred space, surrounding men with eyes as mirrors, reflecting hopes and fears. Stripping away trappings, we remove their obsolete masks, revealing raw and alien identities: brothers of a kindred spirit. Guiding men to go deep within, we show...

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We Are But Men
Dec21

We Are But Men

By Richard Wiener When I was young, I searched for gods – men without fear of death, men imbued with the unassailable power I so sorely lacked.  At times I thought I had found such gods, but in the end all proved to be fallible like myself.  Much later I learned that godliness resides not on a sacred Mount Olympus, but right here, right now, within ourselves. By our rituals, we create sacred space, but in that space we are men, not...

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Five Generations: Looking Back and Forward

by Steve Norcross At 69 years of age, I am blessed with three of us living and vivid memories of two others. Now that the year is turning to yet another, the holiday time has me looking back, and looking forward. Granddad was, to me, a curious example of a not-very-interesting man. Coming from humble beginnings, he learned a trade that has long since been mechanized: plate glass cutting. Mostly I remember that he was grumpy, not...

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My Father’s Son; a poem

by James Herlihy Did you know what it was like To face every day as if it were my last; To awaken every morning in certain dread That one or both of you would be gone? Did you ever wonder how it felt To contemplate which of you I needed most, Wanted most, loved most, hated most; To equate life with pain, love with anger, Vision with madness … and to consider suicide, At the cotton-candy-tender age of ten? Did you question my...

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