Duluth, Minnesota (OpEdNews) May 27, 2025: As I write the present wide-ranging and, at times, deeply personal new 11,888-word OEN article this morning, the Roman Catholic Church has a new pope, Pope Leo XIV, who appears to be as doctrinally conservative as the doctrinally conservative late Pope Francis (1936-2025) was, and this morning's news reports that former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.
I profiled the doctrinally conservative Pope Francis in my OEN article titled "Pope Francis on Evil and Satan" (dated March 24, 2019):
I said farewell to the doctrinally conservative Pope Francis in my OEN article "Pope Francis (1936-2025): In Memoriam" (dated April 22, 2025):
But I have not yet formulated any views of Pope Leo XIV worth writing up in an OEN article. However, in according with my view of Pope Francis in my OEN article "Pope Francis on Evil and Satan" (dated March 24, 2019), I would expect that Pope Leo XIV is also doctrinally conservative - because I see no way that the cardinal-electors would ever elect a new pope who is not doctrinally conservative.
In any event, several weeks ago, I read retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal's op-ed titled "Be Not Afraid" in The New York Times (dated April 13, 2025):
I was impressed with his discussion of character in it, so I pre-ordered his new 2025 book titled On Character: Choices That Define a Life (Portfolio/ Penguin) at Amazon.com. I have now received Stanley McChrystal's new 2025 book (released on May 13, 2025). Over 68 short autobiographical chapters, the retired Army general is an admirably lucid writer.
Now, when I describe the 68 short chapters in this new 2025 book as autobiographical, I do not mean that this book is an autobiography or memoir. It is not an autobiography or memoir. Rather, it is a cogently argued book. In it, McChrystal argues cogently that we make choices that define our lives -- and our character. As to McChrystal's own life, I have no doubt that he has made many significant choices in his long life that have defined his character as an outstanding leader of men and women in the U.S. Army. In short, McChrystal's life has been one of distinguished service to his country and his fellow Americans.
Because McChrystal incorporates autobiographical information in his 68 short chapters, I have incorporated a certain amount of autobiographical information in the present OEN article, Because McChrystal often reflects on events in American history and world history in his 68 short chapters, I have also incorporated certain reflections on our western cultural history in the present OEN article.
Now, according to the Wikipedia entry on Stanley McChrystal, he was born on August 14, 1954, in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. (I grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, my mother's hometown. But I was born on March 17, 1944, in Ossining, New York, my father's hometown. However, at the time of my birth, my father was serving in the U.S. Army in Dover, England; he was part of the build-up of troops there for the D-Day landing at Normandy, France. My father returned from the war as a decorated hero and entered my young life when I was eighteen months old.)
Now, have I made big choices myself in my life that define my life? Yes, I certainly have. For example, when I was twenty years old, I made the choice to transfer in the fall semester of 1964 as a junior English major to Saint Louis University, the Jesuit university if the City of St. Louis, Missouri (USA). With 20/20 hindsight today, this was the biggest decision of my life. Because I planned to major in English, I reported to the head of the English department for academic counseling, Father Maurice B. McNamee, S.J. Father McNamee advised me to take Father Walter Ong's course Practical Criticism: Poetry, which I did.
In that course, I fell in love with Father Ong and his media-ecology thought. Over my lifetime (I am now 81 years old), I have written extensively about Ong's media-ecology work.
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