CHICAGO, IL (September 28, 2018) – Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed.
Meet the Other Empty Nesters: Dogs
Dogs can grieve for months when students leave for college. Some even go on “hunger strikes.” The article includes suggestions for ways to ease their grief.
From the article: “With the school year underway and college students departed, households everywhere are dealing with the unnatural quiet, the empty seat at the dinner table, the curious absence of laundry. Parents and siblings know that the kid will return, that the loss is not forever. But what about the pets who wander the house, hunting for the family member who is—unaccountably—simply gone?”
World War I Cross Under Siege
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of an atheist organization that sued to have a war memorial Peace Cross removed from a traffic circle in Bladensburg, Maryland, arguing that it represents an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The memorial was erected in 1925 and bears the names of 49 local soldiers who died while serving in the war. The article gives background on the case, but mostly focuses on the lives of the people memorialized.
From the article: “They were farmers from Southern Maryland, a prominent surgeon and medical school professor at Georgetown University, and a British-born, Medal of Honor recipient who was president of the Marine Corps baseball team. Draft registration cards, census and burial records, and historical newspaper articles show that most were single men in their 20s. But one was only 18 and enlisted in Maryland after he was told in Washington that he was too young to join. One was a man in his 50s, already wounded in battle and having no business being on the front lines.”
John Steinbeck on Good and Evil
The Nobel Prize-winning author’s meditation on good and evil is as prescient today as when he wrote East of Eden. Also, everyone should subscribe to the “Brain Pickings” blog.
From the article: “At the most fundamental level, the triumph of good over evil presupposes an openhearted curiosity about what is other than ourselves and a certain willingness for understanding…. Steinbeck, too, saw the centrality of empathic understanding in the choice of goodness.”
Early Female Christian Pilgrim Was Tough
The early pilgrims were not all men. Women, such as Egeria, the first female mountaineer on record, made journeys to biblical sites as early as 380 A.D. Her journal recounts her trek around the Mediterranean.
From the article: “Her diary is remarkable because of what it can tell us about religious rituals and travel in the ancient world….Those who want to follow in Egeria’s footsteps can consult the itinerary of her journey at the Egeria Project, an international project that documents, preserves, and promotes ancient sites of pilgrimage. Just a cursory glance at the photographs of the sites will make it clear just how difficult ancient travel was.”
The Outrageous Plan to Haul Icebergs to Africa
Countries are running out of water and getting desperate to find new sources. They’re exploring solutions that sound impossible.
From the article: “If towing icebergs to hot, water-stressed regions sounds totally crazy to you, then consider this: the volume of water that breaks off Antarctica as icebergs each year is greater than the total global consumption of freshwater. And that stat doesn’t even include Arctic ice. This is pure freshwater, effectively wasted as it melts into the sea and contributes to rising sea levels. Does it sound less crazy now?”
