The latest essay
The Scout Law: Twelve Words That Still Guide Us Today
In 1908, Baden Powell wrote twelve words scouts still live by: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, brave, reverent — and dishonor meant expulsion from scouting.
Read the essayAMAC Yesteryear a column
Bobby Charles
Reflective essays on poetry, wisdom and the timeless truths worth living by.
Several times a week · About the author
Recent essays
- What We Can Learn From The Inklings' Lost Art of Conversation In 1933, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien joined a club that met at an Oxford pub to argue over religion and politics without anger, judgment, or a single word of offense.
- Joshua Chamberlain: The Faith Behind a Civil War Hero Trained for the seminary, Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge at Little Round Top on July 3, 1863, holding the Union line after his men ran out of ammunition.
- Integrity and Freedom: Why Character Still Defines True Leadership Eisenhower called integrity the supreme quality for leadership, and Camus and Emerson agreed the standard comes from within, judged by conscience alone rather than any rulebook.
- Longfellow’s “A Day of Sunshine”: Finding Joy in Every Season In 1872, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow answered autumn's gloom with "A Day of Sunshine," a poem that finds a blessing in every season, from cherry blooms to winter drifts.
- Why Wonder Still Matters in the Age of Artificial Intelligence As the world outsources thinking to AI, Socrates offered a warning worth remembering: "Wonder is the beginning of wisdom," and a mind that stops wondering goes dead.
- Alvin Toffler’s Warning – Do Not Trade Judgement for AI Toffler predicted work-from-home and attacks on religion and the nation-state, and warned that schools pushing AI would shut off our ability to think.
- The Joys of Fall: Robert Frost and the Beauty of Autumn Robert Frost's little-read 1913 poem "October" asked the wind to slow the day and release the leaves one at a time, finding whimsy where others saw only summer ending.
- Why Reading Books Still Matters More Than Ever Before scrolling filled every quiet hour, books by Kenneth Roberts, Heinlein, and Herriot opened whole worlds, and here is why grandchildren still need those pages.
From the column
September 20266 essays
- The Quest: Serving Others Before Time Runs Out
- Robert Frost’s Wit and Wisdom: Timeless Lessons on Life
- In the World, Not of It: Staying True to Timeless Truths
- Labor Day: The Timeless Value of Hard Work and Purpose
- A Poem to Lift Your Spirits: Longfellow’s Arrow and Song
- Finding Hope and Beauty in Wordsworth's Timeless "Daffodils"
August 202610 essays
- The Enduring Advice of Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac
- The Happy Warrior: Lessons in Self-Control From Colin Powell
- Longfellow’s Seaside Memories and the Whimsy of Youth
- Theodore Roosevelt's Timeless Lesson on Courage in "Iron Times"
- Carpe Diem: What Robert Frost Really Meant About Seizing the Day
- Marcus Aurelius and the Lost Art of Staying Composed
- Sonny’s Smile: Lessons in Good Cheer from a Maine Logger
- Theodore Roosevelt's Enduring Lesson: America Is No Accident
- The Bald Eagle: America's Enduring Symbol of Strength and Unity
- Tennyson’s Timeless Truths: Poetry That Still Comforts and Inspires