The accusations against former senator John Edwards have hit a new depth of scintillation and depravity.  In full public view, the once presidential candidate has fallen from power amidst scandalous accusations of adultery and deceit.

You'll never meet an "average" person. Oh sure, someone might be referred to as "average", but no one ever sees himself as average. Every person is unique.  Certainly, there are some commonalities, but each human being is made up of the genetic hand he or she has been dealt, along with life's experiences, environment, culture, religion. etc. Some individuals excel in life and stand out, others live their lives in "quiet desperation" as spoken of by the poet Thoreau.

One year, during the Super Bowl, as the nation settled down to watch not only a highly anticipated football game, but also the newest (and most expensive) television commercials, a controversy arose over one particularly disturbing ad.

Tuesday afternoon, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the small island nation of Haiti and its nine-million inhabitants. The quake flattened the president's palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and whole neighborhoods. Officials feared thousands – perhaps more than 100,000 – may have perished but there was no firm count. One leading Haitian senator commented that there could be as many as 500,000 dead.

Have you noticed that some words fairly drip with intensity and descriptiveness? Even the very sounds of these words help convey their meaning. You know the kind I mean. Words like snap, boom, sizzle, or fizzle, words like expunge, lunge, whack, and whirl. Interesting, you might say, but not very significant. Yet, words do have an impact.