presenting a message of hope and recovery to a nation in need
by David Palmer When World War II began in 1941, my father gave up his high paying public relations job on New York’s Madison Avenue, bought the local newspaper, the Summit Herald, in our home town of Summit, N.J. and went to work. He was forty, had a wife and kids, and was therefore exempt from […]
On New Years day, one of my grandchildren, in the company of a “guardian,” flew from Little Rock to Nashville and entered a treatment facility to deal with his addiction to Oxycontin and possibly alcohol. Prior to the trip, there had been a brief intervention with close family members, and then my nineteen-year-old grandson was […]
It’s that time of year. American Atheists Federation President, David Silverman, is making the talk-show rounds with his message of “who needs Christ during Christmas?” presumably to raise money before the new year for his non-profit company. His press release points to the Federation’s new Times Square billboard, put up on December 3, which states […]
I was 12 years old when my father, looking very grave, told us-my mother, sister and me-that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor on Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands. It was a picture perfect day in Summit, N.J., a charming commuter town 30 miles west of New York City. There was about a foot […]
One late afternoon in October 1978, I found myself at a deserted outdoor restaurant in Boulder, Colorado with only the bartender for company. In the lengthening shadows of the Rocky Mountains, chilled by the wind, I stood with drink in hand suddenly overcome by a sense of loneliness and isolation. I watched the lights wink […]
On Building Relationships A grandfather’s Tale By David Palmer The late Dr. Conway Hunter used to sponsor an annual, four-day Thanksgiving retreat at St. Simons Island off the Georgia coast for people in recovery from substance addictions, mainly alcohol. In November of 1990, I joined a contingent from Little Rock at the retreat. I was […]
“The reason there is so much violence and chaos in the black precincts is the disintegration of the African-American family.” With this statement, Bill O’Reilly, on Fox News the night of July 22, began to recast the national conversation about the plight of inner city blacks from a race problem to a family problem. “Right […]
“People try to attack the protective barrier of ‘denial’ and get the alcoholic to admit he is an alcoholic,’ the late Joe McQuany once observed. “The jury is still out on how effective this can be,” he continued, “in most cases this is a waste of time as most alcoholics are better at denial […]
Beware of alcohol, seniors. Your defenses are down. Nobody seems to have noticed, but the old folks are having trouble with alcohol, and it’s time we did something about it. That was the word I got when I interviewed Dr. David Lipschitz, author and one time chairman of the geriatrics department at the University of […]
“In my childhood the only exotic, exciting, beautiful things that my mother shared with me were her military times. She was a WAC, and she met my father in the Philippines. She told me about the South Pacific, about serving with MacArthur, about New Guinea and Australia.” So begins a short article Army Captain David […]
To Purchase David's ebook for Kindle CLICK HERE
To Purchase David's ebook for Kindle CLICK HERE