Author Archives: diestl

My son James is living in Fort Worth, Texas, going to school, working almost full-time, living on his own, and doing everything he can to become a contributing member of society. He was given a broken bicycle, and because it was his only real means of transportation, he spent about $100 buying tubes and fixingContinue reading “No wheels to get home”

History keeps returning to the same uncomfortable image: a civilization’s elite, cards or dice in hand, gambling away the discipline that once made them formidable. Historians understand that gambling alone didn’t toppled a great power. Rome, France, Britain, in every case, the real killers were war debt, fiscal mismanagement, inequality, and institutional rot. Sound Familiar?Continue reading “A Warning in Disguise, From Rome to the Sportsbook”

Today’s social-media health sphere is overflowing with supplements by self-appointed gurus pushing the latest miracle formula, their own special brand of “Dr. Charlatan” medicine.Every six months, a new pill, powder, capsule, or injectable arrives in the longevity market promising to keep us younger, healthier, sharper, leaner, and somehow closer to immortal. And we buy in.Continue reading “No movement needed”

Twenty-two years gone in the blink of an eye. Today, I celebrate, and a piece of me quietly grieves. The part of fatherhood that once felt so necessary, so full of purpose: the daily task of raising him.  There’s an inevitable ache that comes when your son’s wings have finally grown strong enough to leaveContinue reading “Fatherhood’s bittersweet chapter”

Reality is innocent. It doesn’t take sides. It doesn’t lie. It doesn’t seek applause or fear criticism. It simply is. A sunrise doesn’t change because of who is watching. Gravity doesn’t suspend itself for ideology. Time doesn’t pause or rewind for grief, nor does it accelerate for gain. Reality remains indifferent to our opinions, ourContinue reading “The Innocence of Reality”

The death of a flower that will bloom again reminds me of a beautiful ballad once sung by a voice that is no longer with us. Though the flower fades, the bees carry its pollen on invisible currents, ensuring that its beauty returns with another season. So too does music travel on unseen vibrations, carriedContinue reading “Invisible messengers”

Something changed in American family life over the last sixty plus years. In 1960, the typical woman married by 20 and most children grew up with two married parents at the dinner table most nights. Today, the median age at first marriage is nearly 29, a quarter of 40-year-olds have never married, and the birthContinue reading “The strike of the nuclear family union.”

I met you where you were and never judged where you came from. I encouraged you to pursue an education, introduced you to people who valued ideas and ambition, and opened doors that had never been opened to you. I shared my world because I believed in your potential. When you had little, I gaveContinue reading “Muffins, coffee and half and half”

I was a huge fan of the AMC series Mad Men. My wife and I would look forward to Sunday nights, sitting together on the couch and watching each new episode. It became a weekly ritual. The show revolved around the characters and storylines inside the Madison Avenue advertising world of Sterling Cooper, a placeContinue reading “Mad Men”

Today, I sold my comic book collection, a collection I had been building since the 1970s. It wasn’t easy. Some of those books had been with me for most of my life. There are seasons when sentiment must yield to responsibility. California is an expensive place to live, and when times become difficult, you makeContinue reading “The Responsibility of Time”