The idea for quietanswers came to me while I was talking to my kids. We had been through a number of deaths, both of pets and family members, and it had left us all on shaky ground.
At the same time, the world around us seemed to be going through a weird kind of madness.
Racism was on the rise, as was hate speech.
Politicians were acting like schoolyard bullies, hurling insults and lies at each other, using words that would have gotten you or me fired from our jobs. People were being attacked both verbally and physically for their politics, their religion, their place of birth, and even their sexuality. The home of the brave seemed to have become the home of the terrified, the land of the intolerant.
All this noise filtered its way down to the schoolyards and soccer fields, and was translated into acts of violence both petty and significant.
As a parent, I found myself in a maelstrom of questions and challenges.
How can these things happen? How can people do these things? Where is God? Is there a God? What religion is right? Why not lie, if it gets you what you want? What’s really wrong with insulting someone?
My wife and I have never been ones to shut down these questions. Just the opposite, we encourage them. Our goal is for the kids to develop their own world-views, and for those views to be both well-informed and deeply thought out.
For me, such a world-view is the best anchor to have when life starts to storm. It’s the quiet whisper inside yourself, the one that helps you see dangers and correct your course.
The truth is not a shout or a scream.
It’s not a clenched fist or a raised gun.
It’s a quiet certainty, an inner peace that allows you to move with deliberation through chaos, to avoid the pitfalls of quick or easy answers, and to maintain and build your character despite whatever else may be happening.
This web site contains my quiet answers.
You probably won’t agree with all of them. My hope, though, is that you’ll find some that resonate, and that they will, in some fashion, help you continue building your own quiet foundation of truth.
