Past Prompts

As the saying goes “Friends are the family we choose.”  Indeed a friend for life is a precious gift,  but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.

What ended the friendship might be the abrupt surfacing of a major difference - all too common since 2020 -  or the slow erosion of feeling over the years,   or geographic distance,  or divergent personal growth.  But whatever it is,  it hurts.

Think back about Ex-Friends and share forward! Start Writing Read Stories

On Veterans Day we think of the sacrifice of our vets and celebrate their return.

But for many, coming home may be quite stressful as they suffer vivid memories or recurring nightmares; or are met by disparaging anti-war groups and sentiments; or must deal with problems re-assimilating to their communities or returning to work.  Or simply because the world that veterans return to may be very different from the world they left.

Are  you, or is or a friend or a loved one a vet who faced such a situation?

Think about Veterans Day and share forward. Start Writing Read Stories

Given the tumult of current events, does your memory take you back to a time when America seemed more unified than it is today?  Or is that just the way we’d like to read the past?
Some of our divisions have been identified as North vs South, or East vs West, but not all are geographical including perhaps urban vs rural,  and industrial vs agricultural.

Assess the state of affairs in our country today. What other evidence of disunity do you see?

Think back about our Disunited States and share forward! Start Writing Read Stories

We’ve stood witness to homelessness all our lives. In the 1950s we stared at “bums” — alcoholics usually confined to America’s skid rows. Earlier, the Depression and the Dust Bowl rendered whole families homeless.

Today, homelessness has become ubiquitous. Wealth disparity and income inequality combine with gentrification and untreated mental illness to spread homelessness across class lines and demographics.

How do you interact with the homeless in your world? Through your car window or with handouts on the street? Do you work in homeless aid?

Have you or a friend or family member ever been homeless?  And what vision do you have for reducing the scourge of homelessness?

Think back about Homelessness and share forward! Start Writing Read Stories

Do you think of yourself as a perfectionist, always striving to get things exactly right?  Do you become frustrated when things go awry and grow impatient with the imperfections of others?

Do you think perfection is an obtainable goal?  Or do you think it’s the enemy of the good as singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen says in Anthem: “There is a crack in everything, / That’s how the light gets in.”

Think back about Perfection and share forward! Start Writing Read Stories