9/11: A Personal Account From Ground Zero
A firsthand account of escaping the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, republished twenty-five years later with reflections on preparedness, awareness, and resilience.
What It Takes to Stay in Third Place
Your Third Place Needs You Too Most of us have a first place and a second place. Home is the first. Work or school is usually the second. Then there is the third place, the one we choose to return to because it has become part of our lives. It might be a coffee shop, […]
False Dilemma Thinking and the Rise of Keyboard Experts
How Do You Know When You’ve Seen Enough to Judge? I’ve noticed a pattern that shows up in training, and once you see it, you start seeing it everywhere. A short video goes online. The attacker moves. The defender responds. The clip lasts a few seconds. Then people who weren’t in the room, didn’t feel […]
What Makes a Good Teacher? Lessons That Last
What Makes a Good Teacher? The teachers I remember most had little to do with the subjects they taught. I’ve been thinking about my school years lately and running through the faces of the teachers I had. I loved my chemistry teacher and couldn’t stand others. My physical education teacher made his class something I […]
Martial Arts Lesson For Parents
The Teacher’s Final Responsibility Is to Step Aside A Good Teacher Prepares You to Continue Alone The job of a real teacher is to give you the skills to keep going without him. His success becomes visible when you no longer need him beside you. A teacher begins by giving instructions. He shows you what […]
What Conor McGregor’s Injury Revealed About The Crowd
What We Forgive Until Someone Stops Performing Conor McGregor came back to the UFC after more than five years away. His last fight had ended with a broken leg. He recovered, trained, and stepped back into the cage against Max Holloway. The fight lasted sixty-nine seconds. McGregor threw a jumping kick, landed badly, and his […]
The Most Honorable Title I Have Been Given
The Most Honorable Title I Have Been Given Father’s Day arrives every year with the same gentle, slightly commercial warmth. Cards, a meal, a gift that gestures at a hobby. I have never objected to any of it, but I have come to suspect we are not entirely sure what the day is for. We […]
What the NY Knicks and the Bandwagon Effect Reveal About Human Nature
Everyone Loves Victory. Few People Respect the Journey I have been living in New York City for over sixteen years. When I moved here from a small village in Israel, the NBA felt like a different world. One of the first things I wanted to do was go to Madison Square Garden and watch the […]
Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?
Why Good People Do Bad Things Inside a Crowd Paris Saint-Germain F.C. won the Champions League, defeating Inter Milan 5-0. The fans were happy and proud, and many of them reacted in a strange way. They destroyed parts of the city they were supposed to be celebrating in. That makes me uncomfortable because of what […]
The Problem With Saying ‘Happy Memorial Day’
Comfort Makes Us Forget Who Paid for Our Freedom Every year, millions of Americans say “Happy Memorial Day.” Most mean absolutely no disrespect. They are being polite. They are wishing people a good weekend, good weather, time with family, and rest from work. The phrase became automatic, almost disconnected from the actual meaning of the […]
