Marietta McCarty
is a New York Times bestselling author, philosopher, and teacher. She defines philosophy as “the art of clear thinking," and invites every one she encounters (or anyone who picks up one of her books) into the good life, marked by simplicity and the fullness of life's greatest treasures.
2023, be like eggs—few scrambled, most sunny sides up. Look out your windows— sacks of resolve dropping at your front and back doors. May the full-bodied laughter delighting each of you be your youthful own. Bit by bit. Wink back at the face in the mirror. Step by step.
Read MoreShe asked, “Will you tell me about these mountains.” We sat at a picnic table. I asked, “Have you watched the kites flying from the hillside?” Jean’s thrill almost tangible, her face radiates satisfaction in her new position at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Lacking all pretense, blending expertise with instinct, to me she’s a girl who loves her job and knows exactly how to do it. Though this job’s demands make it far from an easy one, Jean speaks and moves with practiced ease.
Read MoreWe live, as best we can, in a spree of extremism. The pandemic wears on and democracy wears thin. Paying attention exhausts and unnerves. We live, as best we can, mostly on a high wire, seldom in a hammock. Democracy-fascism—fascism-democracy. Relief package on its way. Let’s try Alabama-China—Dr. King-Lao Tzu.
Read MoreLet’s learn from an elementary school parent and her two children about this September’s return to school. Revive in nature with them—fly like a monarch butterfly. Enter elementary school again, depart doused in beauty.
Read MoreCountless children and adults, picking up a racquet, find access and acceptance easier because of her. Serena invites one and all to play. “Kick butt and be proud of it all.” She reimagined her life and the game. What she’s achieved for social equity, in race and gender, will grow immeasurably.
Read MoreListen to owl and rain. See stone and cloud. Smell rosemary and salt air. Taste tangy and tart. Touch human skin and tree bark. Everything exists in relationship—our mother, Earth, wraps everything into her fabric’s folds. Only this mother, every moment, for All. One common denominator—nothing outside the equation.
Read MoreLife and death dissolve into each other in the waterfall. Without this reunion, life would be a run-on sentence, dangling without meaning. Death shapes the contours of our being. Now forever.
Read MorePublic libraries. A bedrock of democracy. Essential for healthy democracies and necessary for their survival. Bliss? I’d like to check that out, please. Renew indefinitely? Yes, ho whoa, yes, please.
Read MoreWhat, after all, all in all, always, if not faith in new possibilities? Sunbeams pop through dark days. Seeds of potential bear fruit. Behold this quintet: José Andrés. Amelia Anisovych. Ketanji Brown Jackson. Alex Padilla. Cory Booker.
Read MoreIs there much to learn about Ukraine? Yes. Will I look for organizations providing medical relief such as the International Red Cross? Yes. Today, for my medicine I turn to good news that’s so much more than fit to print. Fill social media with these stories. Shout them out.
Read MoreExuding mighty grit, whether up close or from a distance, they don’t miss a beat. Caregivers stay ready and ramped, exhausted and worried—trying to think ahead in the stiff wind of ever-changing hurdles. And those already physically and/or mentally tested, forced into deeper isolation by a pandemic, adapt like champs. Listen in with me. Heroes.
Read MoreWe’ve taxied 2021’s long runway. One day very soon, light as a feather, we’ll lift up into cloudless skies.
Read MoreAnd what did any of these superheroes ever want for me? To be kind. To be happy. To love the world and to feel it love me back. So be it. So be me.
Read MoreImagine the relief provided by the smallpox vaccine. I have friends, polio victims, who have devoted their lives to eradicating the disease. Kindergarten entry vaccines, college admission vaccines, international travel vaccines. Tetanus. Mumps. What advances, such advantages.
Read MoreThe roulette wheel spins. The Gambler Wife runs the table.
Read More“We believe that the truth of this century cannot be discovered unless its tragedy is explored to the bitter end” (Albert Camus, Camus at Combat, November 3, 1944). Philosopher Camus, laboring in the French Underground, unfortunately speaks directly to this country in 2021. Tragedy must be investigated fully. Horror must be acknowledged without excuse. Truth be told—moving forward requires looking back. So we examine higher education, the Olympics, and Charlottesville, VA. An ever more true story of the past, can’t you hear it? And we keep listening and telling and opening until, one day, the story and truth sync.
Read MoreSlow. Steady. No race to win.
Read MoreJust before sunrise the next morning, I awoke cradled in carefree joy. The ocean washed away the remaining pandemic residue—the last smatterings of shock and fear released overnight into salt air. The dolphin parade mid-morning melted fourteen months into one deep breath of gratitude. Cleansing, purifying water baptized me. Primordial newness. Infinitely fresh. Always beginning. Romping dolphins played tag. Not it! It.
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Learn new dance moves. Clear the mind. Take a walk. Hold hands. Have faith in a new generation of leaders. Discover and support winning coalitions. Focus on efforts to reverse the deadend course ahead. light at tunnel’s end - night stars and morning glory - positivity