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Lunar lullaby

Dear Annie: Your recent letter from, “Grieving My Childhood,” reminded me of a very old German song, written by a renowned clergyman, that begins with the line, “Der Mond ist aufgegangen.” It later says, roughly translated: “Do you see the moon over there? You can only see half of it, yet it is round and beautiful. So are many things at which we laugh or which we belittle because our eyes cannot see them.” How true. Thank you for your insightful and helpful responses, from which we all can learn things. — Half Moon Dear Half Moon: I love your letter. Thank you for ...

The trend toward distrusting police could hurt us all

All Democrats want to take your guns. All Republicans are racist. So is law enforcement, and police brutality is commonplace. Of course, none of those statements are true, but they highlight the groupthink that has infected the national conversation. When a police-involved death occurs, it seems there are no shades of gray anymore, no need for facts, clarifying details or perspective, just the knee-jerk conclusion that the police officer was wrong. At the last Democratic presidential debate, the opening statement of candidate Bill De Blasio, mayor of New York City, was interrupted ...

1,200 miles of miscommunication

Dear Annie: We have a son and daughter-in-law who live in Wisconsin, while we live more than 1,200 miles away in Florida. In early May, our son asked us if we could come up to Wisconsin in August to care for his girls (our grandkids) while he and our daughter-in-law spent a weekend in New York City. However, since we had previously planned to drive to Wisconsin in June for a funeral memorial for our good friend, both my husband and I were reluctant to commit to another trip to Wisconsin in August, so soon after having been there in June — at which time we also saw him and his family. ...

Sell an organ

Have you volunteered to be an organ donor? I did. I just clicked the box on the government form that asks if, once I die, I’m willing to donate my organs to someone who needs them. Why not? Lots of people need kidneys, livers, etc. When I’m dead, I sure won’t need mine. Still, there are not enough donors. So, more than 100,000 Americans are on a waiting list for kidneys. Taking care of them is so expensive, it consumes almost 3% of the federal budget! So why not allow Americans to sell an organ? People already legally sell blood, plasma, sperm, eggs and bone marrow. ...

Ronald makes friends grimace

Dear Annie: My family moved from Shanghai four years ago and have settled in a lovely home in California. I very much enjoy our family lifestyle here and wouldn’t trade it for the world. During the move, however, there was something very unsettling that we brought with us that still plays a role in my nightmares. We have a life-size Ronald McDonald statue sitting on a bench sitting in the middle of our backyard. My dad used to work for McDonalds and took home two statues as a gift from the company. Luckily, we sold one of them before we moved. However, the other one was shipped ...

Big apple dreams

Dear Annie: I want to change my career path to pursue what I really want to do in life. I have two kids, a 2-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter. Currently, I am a driver for Lyft and Uber, and I work more than 50 hours a week. I’m making a decent amount of money, but it’s not enough. I’ve wanted to be a male entertainer since I was in high school. I’m 20 years old and in my first year of college now. Both of my babies’ mothers think that I’m out of my mind, even though I said they’d get free dances. But I think I can get by until I start making consistent income from ...