Friday, September 22, 2023 | 
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Joseph Walker

To read more by Joseph B. Walker, visit josephbwalker.com. Twitter: JoeWalkerSr

According to my calculations, this is the 1,314th time I’ve situated myself in front of a computer keyboard to write a weekly column that attempts to look at contemporary issues from the perspective of traditional values. It is also the last time.
Media & Books
ValueSpeak: ‘Goodbye, Farewell and Amen’
According to my calculations, this is the 1,314th time I’ve situated myself in front of a computer keyboard to write a weekly column that attempts to look at contemporary issues from the perspective of traditional values. It is also the last time.
By Joseph Walker
The first thing you need to know about Byron and Anita is this: those aren’t their real names.
Media & Books
‘It’s OK, we don’t mind’
The first thing you need to know about Byron and Anita is this: those aren’t their real names.
By Joseph Walker
Let's start appreciating what's right in our lives.
Family
ValueSpeak: Savoring the feeling of feeling nothing
I was sitting there at my desk, minding my own business (well, OK, minding my boss’s business), when all of a sudden it hit me. The headache. The nausea. The overall general uckiness.
By Joseph Walker
A long, backbreaking project was energized and easy, as two brothers worked hard — together.
Media & Books
ValueSpeak: Working together to conquer an ogre of an auger
A long, backbreaking project was energized and easy, as two brothers worked hard — together.
By Joseph Walker
John Adams, second president of the U.S. from 1797 to 1801, is shown in this steel engraving.
Media & Books
ValueSpeak: The country and the concept
John Adams didn’t have anything against the Fourth of July. He just thought it was two days too late.
By Joseph Walker
My son and I had a relationship based on a certain set of assumptions. And now those assumptions are no longer valid, so we had to reconfigure our relationship based on new realities and circumstances.
Family
ValueSpeak: Wrestling with relationships
My son and I had a relationship based on a certain set of assumptions. And now those assumptions are no longer valid, so we had to reconfigure our relationship based on new realities and circumstances.
By Joseph Walker
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Family
ValueSpeak: Figuring out fatherhood
My young friend never had a father in his own life, but as we approach his first Father’s Day as a father, he’s figuring out fatherhood with the help of a 2-month-old baby named Luke.
By Joseph Walker
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Faith
ValueSpeak: Lessons without words
After making my usually calm and dignified father literally hopping mad one bedtime, my sisters learned that no matter how good we may be with words, we often teach our most powerful messages without them.
By Joseph Walker
We tell a crude joke or make an inappropriate comment to or about someone else, or we criticize others for situations and circumstances beyond their control, and the greatest harm that is done is to ourselves.
Family
ValueSpeak: Accidental rudeness leads to a kind gesture
We tell a crude joke or make an inappropriate comment to or about someone else, or we criticize others for situations and circumstances beyond their control, and the greatest harm that is done is to ourselves.
By Joseph Walker
A group of friends stand for photos after their high school graduation 2012.
Family
ValueSpeak: ‘The good life’ may not be what you thought it would be
I only wanted three things for my high school graduation: a really nice watch, a really good kiss and some idea what the heck I was going to do for the next 60 years or so.
By Joseph Walker
Memorial Day is a time for remembering, with flowers representing what Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called "the forget-me-nots of the angels" — or, in some cases, smelly irises and lilacs.
Family
ValueSpeak: ‘The forget-me-nots of the angels’ on Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a time for remembering, with flowers representing what Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called “the forget-me-nots of the angels” — or, in some cases, smelly irises and lilacs.
By Joseph Walker
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Family
ValueSpeak: Who’s feeling The Pressure?
That last-second free throw during an NBA playoff game may be stressful or filled with anxiety or even extreme tension. But it is definitely not The Pressure.
By Joseph Walker
You know, love and stuff.
Faith
ValueSpeak: One gave me life, one gave my life meaning
On this Mother’s Day, I honor the two great women in my life: the one who gave me life, and the one who gave my life meaning.
By Joseph Walker
Two-year-old Will, Joe Walker's grandson, was retrieved from a creek by his grandpa and Uncle Jon.
Faith
ValueSpeak: How did my toddler grandson survive a precarious situation? God knows
Jon and I didn’t save Will last Sunday; we only retrieved him. Someone else saved him. And God knows.
By Joseph Walker
Ollie and I have a strange and wonderful relationship. I think it’s strange to have a pet that is definitionally wild. Ollie thinks it would be wonderful to eat me.
Faith
ValueSpeak: A wolf at the door — and in the heart
Ollie and I have a strange and wonderful relationship. I think it’s strange to have a pet that is definitionally wild. Ollie thinks it would be wonderful to eat me.
By Joseph Walker
“You see,” the professor continued, “you got the first 20 question right, and then right over here …” He pointed to a place on the test form “… it looks like you skipped a row. From what I can tell, it looks like you got the right answers, you just put th
Faith
ValueSpeak: How’s your technical track record?
If we have established a personal history of integrity, honesty, hard work and fair play, people will tend to give us the benefit of the doubt when we occasionally fall humanly short of perfection.
By Joseph Walker
By choosing to carry the full weight of every steppingstone and stumbling block we encounter on our journey through life, we give inordinate power to the past and dissipate the energy we should be focusing on the present and the future.
Faith
ValueSpeak: Memory’s rocky road
By choosing to carry the full weight of every steppingstone and stumbling block we encounter on our journey through life, we give inordinate power to the past and dissipate the energy we should be focusing on the present and the future.
By Joseph Walker
As I was driving to California that Easter weekend, I decided there was one thing I wasn't going to tell my dying father, especially on Easter weekend. I wasn't going to tell him "goodbye."
Family
Life goes on: Why I didn’t tell my dying father ‘goodbye’
As I was driving to California that Easter weekend, I decided there was one thing I wasn’t going to tell my dying father — especially on Easter weekend. I wasn’t going to tell him “goodbye.”
By Joseph Walker
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Family
ValueSpeak: The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
I’m not trying to say that Mike’s foot was suddenly physically healed by a loving and well-intentioned kiss from his 3-year-old son. But there’s no denying that that pure, authentic act of love made Mike feel better.
By Joseph Walker
With March Madness capturing so much attention this week, we look at the original March madness and wonder with Cervantes: "Who knows where madness lies?"
Family
ValueSpeak: The original March Madness
With March Madness capturing so much attention this week, we look at the original March madness and wonder with Cervantes: “Who knows where madness lies?”
By Joseph Walker
Looking back, it seems there are a lot of things that I didn’t really appreciate in my youth that I later grew to enjoy — even to savor. Like Mom's corned beef and cabbage.
Utah
ValueSpeak: St. Patrick’s Day helps with growing, learning, changing
Looking back, it seems there are a lot of things that I didn’t really appreciate in my youth that I later grew to enjoy — even to savor. Like Mom’s corned beef and cabbage.
By Joseph Walker
I’m just focusing on the “spring forward” part of the Daylight Saving Time equation. Isn’t that a bold, dynamic, optimistic message? “Spring forward” with your life!
Faith
ValueSpeak: Spring forward!
I’m just focusing on the “spring forward” part of the Daylight Saving Time equation. Isn’t that a bold, dynamic, optimistic message? “Spring forward” with your life!
By Joseph Walker
While it’s true there are times when we need to adapt, I’m thankful there are still people like my neighbor and friend David — not quite a saint … yet — who live lives of constancy, clarity and harmonious purpose.
Faith
ValueSpeak: ‘Be ye constant’
While it’s true there are times when we need to adapt, I’m thankful there are still people like my neighbor and friend David — not quite a saint … yet — who live lives of constancy, clarity and harmonious purpose.
By Joseph Walker
They call them the Golden Years, but from where I sit it’s not gold I’m seeing. It’s gray. Several shades of it, in fact.
Utah
Golden Years are more like several shades of gray
They call them the Golden Years, but from where I sit it’s not gold I’m seeing. It’s gray. Several shades of it, in fact.
By Joseph Walker
Whether we’re learning to walk or learning to run a business, starting a new habit or breaking an old one, taking a weekend getaway or the journey of a lifetime, no steps are more important than the first ones.
Family
ValueSpeak: First steps are important when you’re trying to catch a queen
Whether we’re learning to walk or learning to run a business, starting a new habit or breaking an old one, taking a weekend getaway or the journey of a lifetime, no steps are more important than the first ones.
By Joseph Walker
I wonder how often I settle for surviving when I believe we were all born to thrive.
Family
ValueSpeak: Thriving is more than simply surviving
I wonder how often I settle for surviving when I believe we were all born to thrive.
By Joseph Walker
Joseph Walker writes about what a major difference a minor adjustment can make.
Faith
ValueSpeak: Making everything super
It amazed me then — and often has since — what a major difference a minor adjustment can make. The same principle holds true in matters interpersonal.
By Joseph Walker
There were pressures, deadlines and hard decisions to make. But for two hours at least, Nile was there for his daughter, right when she needed him.
Family
ValueSpeak: Being engaged as a parent
There were pressures, deadlines and hard decisions to make. But for two hours at least, Nile was there for his daughter, right when she needed him.
By Joseph Walker
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., center with arms raised, marches along Constitution Avenue with other civil rights protestors carrying placards as they walked from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington, August 28, 1963.
Family
ValueSpeak: Our wrestle with race
And now, 50 years later, it appears that we’re wrestling again — or maybe we’re just still wrestling. Either way, it’s clear that we haven’t overcome — not really. Not completely. No matter what the song says.
By Joseph Walker
I see a list on some website — you know, the 25 best this, or the 10 worst that — and I’m on it, pointing and clicking feverishly until I’ve consumed every bit of ordered information. I even have a list about lists.
Family
ValueSpeak: Click it! Read it! Share it!
I see a list on some website — you know, the 25 best this, or the 10 worst that — and I’m on it, pointing and clicking feverishly until I’ve consumed every bit of ordered information.
By Joseph Walker
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