Greetings and welcome to Thinking Things Through.
You don’t know me yet, but I hope we'll become friends before too long. My name is Glenn Sonnenberg. I’m a lawyer, businessman, husband, father, Wordle player, baseball fan, and community member. Just like you, I’m trying to make sense of this crazy world. Sometimes, it isn’t easy — but I’m trying to make sense of it all!
Thinking Things Through is six years in the making. At the onset of the COVID lockdown, I began writing by writing a column called Musings From the Bunker. As I sensed we were in a period of collective national trauma of anxiety and isolation, I decided to share with friends a weekly review of what was happening, how we were coping, and how we could break the walls of solitude created by the pandemic.
As we emerged from those difficult days, the community of readers grew and I kept diving deeper into all manner of subjects. When Katie found the Musings and suggested joining her platform, I jumped at the opportunity to speak to the special community she has nurtured. And so, this my invitation for you to join me on a new voyage of inquiry and discovery.
What is Thinking Things Through? Simply put, it's a column that will share perspectives not only on the latest news, but also on broader issues of public policy, the challenges of living in this moment, and ways of living more fully and with greater purpose. Every week, we together can explore our world. And we will do so concisely, calmly, with at least one idea you can take away, and some recommended places for you to explore if you want to dig deeper.
While today’s landscape of media personalities, influencers, and pundits is directed at “consumers” of that product, what you are reading is not directed to you as a consumer. Rather, it's directed to you as a fellow American who is also puzzled by the daily political, economic, and social earthquakes around the world and across the street. This column will not be a screed, directed to members of a political tribe, who already possess an inviolable set of ideas and a rigidity that prevents them from seeing issues from all sides. Instead, through thoughtful analysis and respect for diverse perspectives, perhaps we can find another way to look at our world and consider possible solutions to what ails it.
I’m guessing that you agree with me that we too often are told by people with an agenda what we ought to think and what we ought to feel. What can be lacking is the acknowledgement that we're all in this together. We struggle to understand the rapidity of technological advancement, the national and global news that can leave us reeling, and the existential questions about life and its purpose. But ours is not the first generation to confront difficult issues. I believe there is wisdom to be found in the stories of those who preceded us and how they overcame obstacles they faced. Similarly, there is wisdom in the work of experts today struggling to answer many of the questions we all have. We can learn from them both. But to receive this wisdom requires an open mind, a big heart, and humility (a valuable trait often ignored these days).
I'm here to learn and to share with you — to react to what's going on in the world, while sharing historical perspectives and the wisdom of experts. While I will share with you my opinions, I don’t pretend to be all-knowing and certainly don’t intend to persuade you that I’m always right. Rather, I’m inviting you to take a journey with me. This journey is neither directionless, nor does it have a preordained destination.
I am not a political activist, nor am I a journalist. But I think about things a lot, read a ton, and, when I want to learn more, I talk to people who have different perspectives and believe that making ourselves better educated and leaning into issues and new ideas is our best way to find solutions to problems. And so that’s what I propose to do with you, tackling subjects I may find in the headlines, or in a quotation I heard, a book I read, or a concept like mindfulness or stoicism that I’ve been studying.
I believe in community and community groups and intend to talk about them. I have served for most of my life with various nonprofit organizations — religious and secular organizations, educational institutions, and groups serving the underserved. I firmly believe that these sorts of institutions can offer the best hope of finding a way through today’s challenges and toward a better place — the “city on the hill” dreamed of by John Winthrop in his “A Model of Christian Charity” sermon delivered to the Puritans while still aboard ship.
In a world of hyper-partisanship, I refuse to believe there isn’t a place for people like you and me to share respectful perspectives about the issues of the day. I don’t believe that conversation should be focused on political personalities or the tribes we may belong to. We need to stop trying to find who’s to blame and instead think about ideas that might be implemented to improve our communities and the world a little bit at a time. Even the most complex issues we face are capable of reasonable resolution. Our concerns, our worries, and our fears are, after all, not all that different from each other’s. And what we seek in this life for ourselves and our families also is similar.
So please, let inquisitiveness, empathy, and hope run wild. Join me in this community of curiosity! I’ll see you next week, musing about something I know you’ll also want to think about.
When he isn’t writing the Musings or responding to readers, Glenn Sonnenberg heads a real estate investment company. A graduate of the University of Southern California, B.A. 1977, history, magna cum laude, phi beta kappa, Mr. Sonnenberg also received his J.D. in 1980 from USC. He began his career as a practicing attorney in real estate and finance. Follow him on Substack here.
