Author Archives: Douglas Abbott

About Douglas Abbott

I am a freelance writer by trade, philosopher and comedian by accident of birth. I am an assiduous observer of humanity and endlessly fascinated with people, the common elements that make us human, what motivates people and the fingerprint of God in all of us. I enjoy exploring the universe in my search for meaning, beauty and friendship. My writing is an extension of all these things and something I did for fun long before I ever got paid. My hope is that the reader will find in this portfolio a pleasing and inspiring literary hodgepodge. Good reading!

Doomsday Gospel

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Douglas Abbott

“Westboro Baptist Church targets Taylor Swift,” the headline read. The article had a flavor of outrage, and rightly so. Fred Phelps, WBC’s leader and tireless purveyor of damnation, is at it again. This time, as chronicled by Pop Spy’s Jennifer O’Dell, … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity in Politics | Tagged condemnation, damnation, debauchery, decadence, evil, forgiveness, fornication, Fred Phelps, God, Gospel, grace, heathen, immorality, Jesus, kindness, love, lust, mercy, patience, politics, press, promiscuity, sexual immorality, sin, Westboro Baptist Church | 3 Comments

Trust

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Douglas Abbott

I just finished watching The Impossible, a new film in which a youngish couple played by Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts have brought their three boys to Indonesia and settled into a coastal bungalow just in time for the 2004 … Continue reading →

Posted in Acceptance, Trust | Tagged adversity, calamity, cataclysm, confidence, death, disaster, good, hardship, joy, life, loss, love, pain, peace, redemption, rescue, salvation, sorrow, sovereignty, triumph, trust, victory | 2 Comments

Early Sunset

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Douglas Abbott

I’m losing my sister. Erica has been fighting illness for months and had just started on a third round of chemo when we found out that her cancer had advanced rapidly, leaving her with no more than a week or … Continue reading →

Posted in Grief | Tagged bereavement, Grief, grieve, heaven, hope, hospice, illness, life after death, loss, redemption, sad, sadness, salvation | 5 Comments

Diverging Paths

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Douglas Abbott

I got a text from an old friend yesterday that put the last 20 years of my life in a whole different light. I had an insanely demanding day yesterday and wasn’t able to read Richard’s text until this morning

Posted in Grace, Love, Suffering | Tagged choices, confinement, corrections, crime, deliverance, diverging, fork, fortune, God, grace, incarceration, institutions, jail, justice, juvenile, life, locked up, mercy, path, prison, punishment, redemption, road, salvation | 4 Comments

Land of the Morning Calm

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Douglas Abbott

Peter joined the U.S. Army in 1981. He had studied Taekwondo extensively for years, so when the time came to discuss his deployment, he asked to be stationed in Korea where the discipline of Taekwondo had been developed during the … Continue reading →

Posted in Friendship, Giving, Kindness | Tagged benevolence, cold, culture, exhausted, famished, friendship, giving, hardship, hostility, hungry, kindness, love, mercy, misconceptions, prejudice, racism, soldiers, tired, war, wet | 4 Comments

The Tower of Babel

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Douglas Abbott

A stranger on the other side of the world taught me that the Tower of Babel was a blessing. Let me explain. I was tooling around Facebook late last night when a lady I’ve never met accepted my friend request. … Continue reading →

Posted in Relationships | Tagged beauty, communicate, culture, feeling, feelings, friend, friends, friendship, friendships, gentleness, honesty, humanity, kindness, language, read, speak, talk, Tower of Babel, warmth, write | Leave a comment

Overturning Adam

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Douglas Abbott

“Mankind differs from the animals only by a little, and most people throw that away” –Confucius

Posted in Renewal | Tagged Adam & Eve, alienation, Animal Kingdom, animals, animosity, creatures, distrust, enemies, enmity, estrangement, fear, friendship, mistrust, reconciliation, renewal, restoration, the Curse, the Fall, trust | 2 Comments

Long Black Train

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Douglas Abbott

When we catch our first sight of it, nothing could be more appealing. It doesn’t look black at all. It is bright, sleek and beckons with sophistication. Through its spotless windows you can see handsome, fresh-faced people on board, full … Continue reading →

Posted in Sin | Tagged corrupt, corruption, death, decay, depravity, destruction, evil, hades, hell, lost, perdition, road to perdition, sin, vile, wickedness | 6 Comments

Freezing the Wages of Those Tipped is Cold Act

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Douglas Abbott

Published in the Anchorage Daily News February 7, 2010 Here we go again. CHARR has managed to rope in the Legislature on the latest pursuit of its longstanding dream of rifling through the pockets of tipped Alaska employees. This time, … Continue reading →

Posted in Labor Politics | Tagged bartenders, capital, CHARR, hospitality industry, hotels, IRS, labor, labor laws, laws, minimum wage, National Restaurant Association, pay, restaurants, servers, taxes, tip credit, tipped employees, tips, upward mobility, wages | Leave a comment

Lack of Public Transportation Progress Hurts Anchorage

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Douglas Abbott

Published in the Anchorage Daily News, May 9, 2009 Welcome, Mayor-elect Dan Sullivan. You will soon be dealing with a domino chain of fresh budget shortfalls and a citizenry upset about rising property taxes and also against a sales tax. … Continue reading →

Posted in Green Revolution | Tagged automobiles, cars, city buses, clean energy, driving, federal grants, fossil fuels, green, infrastructure, public transportation, transit systems | Leave a comment