Finding the long-lost brother
My mother’s oldest brother, Donald, disappeared after World War II. He had joined the Army as a chaplain as soon as the country entered the war in December 1941, leaving a wife and four young children at home. The government notified his mother and his wife, that Donald had been wounded and was convalescing with a private nurse. They somehow managed to find out where he was, but he refused to come home. Neither his wife, children, parents or five siblings were enough to entice him back to his old life. Mable, Donald’s wife, finally lost her patience and divorced him a year later when she...
Read MoreDoing our best as parents
Early this week, a California police chief faced a parent’s worst nightmare. His own 18-year-old son appeared in a video of two young men assaulting a 71-year-old Sikh man who was simply out for a walk in his neighborhood. The chief was horrified. My heart broke for him. Like the rest of us doing our best as parents around the world, we shudder when our best appears to be insufficient. “Violence and hatred are not what we have taught our children; intolerance for others is not even in our vocabulary, let alone our values. … We simply don’t know why or how we got here,” Chief Darryl...
Read MoreReconnecting with a friend
An old needlepoint hanging on a wall in my spare bedroom is instrumental in me reconnecting with a friend from my past. My maternal grandmother stitched the needlepoint for me nearly 50 years ago. The frame is not very pretty and the glass has a crack in the upper left corner. But it’s been through 16 or so moves since I’ve had it. So, it’s actually a miracle it has any glass left at all. I love the message – “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” And I love that my grandmother chose it just for me. Today, I love more than anything else the reason she chose it. I had forgotten...
Read MoreSingle-handedly making a difference
Usually finishing on a positive note of people making a difference, CBS ended last night’s newscast with an interview of Harriet Glickman, a name I had not previously heard. She’s the impetus behind the integration of the “Peanuts” comic strip 50 years ago. In 1968, Glickman was a 42-year-old former teacher and mother of three children. Her entire family was a fan of “Peanuts” and had paraphernalia throughout their home. When riots and protests broke out across the country following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4 that year, she...
Read MoreWhen disasters strike
The flooding last week in the Northeast was heart-breaking. And the still raging wildfires out West gut-wrenching. Horrendous disasters. Such destruction and us humans with little if any control. Mother Nature can be a bear. Seems like the universe, or whoever is in charge, could have sent some of the torrential rain causing the flooding to where it was needed most. But that’s obviously not the way things work. I keep thinking about the aftermath of these disasters. Once the dangers pass and people are able to return to their homes and businesses, what are they facing? No amount of...
Read MoreRecycling fever
My garbage receptacle (the blue one on the left) being much smaller than my recycling one makes me smile every time I see it. It’s like an affirmation of what I value right there in plain view. I’m not sure when, why or how I developed such a fervor for recycling. But it’s undeniably in my DNA now and I can’t NOT do it. Not only do I personally have to recycle, I often feel compelled to make sure others do as well. My son once accused me of being a “recycling nazi.” He said it in jest, of course, after he caught me pulling things out of his trash can that should have been put in the...
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Jane Self, PhD, was assistant features editor for the Macon Telegraph and features editor for The Tuscaloosa News. She received her master's degree in secondary education from Louisiana State University in New Orleans and her PhD in education administration from the University of Alabama. 
Jane Self was features editor at The Tuscaloosa News when the Fallen Warriors series began. Although she left the paper, she continued to write these profiles on a freelance basis for The News until the series was stopped in May 2009. Jane has since updated and published them as an E-book. 
In 1991 "60 Minutes" aired a story that attempted to destroy the life and work of EST founder Werner Erhard. Award-winning journalist Jane Self suspected there was more to these allegations than being reported. She discovered an amazing plot of espionage, conspiracy, and sabotage.