Commentary

When I was a youngster, we lived close to a blacksmith’s shop. The smith was a man trained to take a piece of metal, heat it, beat it, and cool it—thereby producing needed and useful articles. His tools were simple, his strength was great, and his eye was keen. The blacksmith’s implements were few: a hammer, anvil, and forge. His forge was used to produce heat;...

To “follow the crowd” means to go along with the majority—to “go with the flow.” It is conformity. Is following the crowd a good idea?

A familiar companion to all of us, who live in this world, is our own personal conscience. It goes with us no matter where we go or what we do or how we act. Our conscience should be able to regulate our thoughts, our actions, our outlook on life, our relationships with others and who we really are inside.

Some expressions in the vernacular, that is “words used on the street,” express an idea in a way that more formal expressions just can’t match. Such an expression is “on Easy Street.” Someone who has just received a great windfall that transforms their economic circumstances from being meager to being set for life might use the expression, “I’m on Easy Street...