What Every Student Should Learn From Civics and Government — The Education of a Citizen

December 6, 2025.Reading time 8 minutes.

A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI (4 of 4 in a Series)

If literature teaches us how to think,
and history teaches us where we came from,
and economics teaches us how choices shape the world,

then civics and government teach us how to live together in a free society.

When I was young, civics felt like a recitation of facts — three branches, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. But I didn’t understand the deeper purpose or the tremendous responsibility that citizenship carries. I didn’t see that democracy is not self-sustaining. It requires informed people, disciplined judgment, and a shared understanding of how government actually works.

Years later, I came to realize that civics is not a list of facts to memorize — it is the operating manual for freedom.

This essay explores the essential civic knowledge students should learn, why it matters, and why it may be the single most endangered — and most important — subject today.

1. Understanding the Constitution — The Blueprint of American Government

Every student should know what the Constitution actually does.

At a minimum, students should understand:

Separation of powers
Checks and balances
Federalism (power divided between federal and state governments)
Individual rights
Limited government
Due process and equal protection

These aren’t abstract ideas. They’re the safeguards that prevent:

tyranny
abuse of power
unequal treatment
political retaliation
the erosion of liberty

Students should know why the Founders feared concentrated power. They should understand the debates between Hamilton and Jefferson, the compromises that made the system possible, and the principles that still hold it together.

A civically educated student knows what the government can do, what it cannot do, and what it should never be allowed to do.

2. How Laws Are Made — And Why It’s Supposed to Be Hard

A free people should know how laws move from idea to reality:

committee
debate
amendments
compromise
bicameral approval
executive signature
judicial review

Students should understand why the system has friction. The Founders designed lawmaking to be deliberate, slow, and thoughtful — not impulsive. This protects the nation from sudden swings of emotion, political fads, or the passions of the moment.

When students understand the process, they also understand:

why gridlock happens
why compromise is necessary
why no single branch can act alone
why courts exist as an independent check

This is how civics grounds expectations and tempers frustration.

3. Rights and Responsibilities — The Moral Core of Citizenship

Civics is not only about rights; it is also about responsibilities.

Students should understand:

free speech
free press
freedom of religion
right to vote
right to assemble
right to due process

But they should also learn:

the responsibility to vote
the responsibility to stay informed
the responsibility to obey just laws
the responsibility to serve on juries
the responsibility to hold leaders accountable
the responsibility to treat fellow citizens with dignity

A functioning democracy depends as much on personal virtue as it does on institutional design.

4. Local Government — The Level Students Understand the Least

Ironically, the level of government that affects daily life the most is the one students know the least about.

Students should understand:

cities, counties, school districts
zoning
local taxes
police and fire services
transportation systems
water and utility infrastructure
public debt and bond elections
local boards and commissions
how a city manager system works
how budgets are created and balanced

Local government is where the real work happens:

roads repaired
streets policed
water delivered
development approved
transit planned
emergency services coordinated
property taxes assessed

A civically educated adult understands where decisions are made — and how to influence them.

5. How Elections Work — Beyond the Headlines and Sound Bites

Every student should understand:

how voter registration works
how primaries differ from general elections
how the Electoral College works
how districts are drawn
what gerrymandering is
how campaign finance operates
the difference between federal, state, and local elections

They should learn how to evaluate:

candidates
platforms
ballot propositions
constitutional amendments
city bond proposals
school board decisions

Without civic education, elections become personality contests instead of informed deliberations.

6. The Balance Between Freedom and Order

Civics teaches students that government constantly manages tensions:

liberty vs. security
freedom vs. responsibility
majority rule vs. minority rights
government power vs. individual autonomy

These are not easy questions.
There are no perfect answers.
But a well-educated citizen understands the tradeoffs.

For example:

How far should free speech extend?
What powers should police have?
When should the state intervene in personal choices?
When does regulation protect people, and when does it stifle them?

Civics teaches students how to think through these issues, not what to believe.

7. Why Civics Matters Even More in the Age of AI

Artificial intelligence has changed the public square. It has amplified the need for civic understanding.

AI magnifies misinformation.

A civically uneducated population is easy to manipulate.

AI can imitate authority.

Only an informed citizen knows how to verify sources and test claims.

AI accelerates public emotion.

Civic education slows people down — it teaches them to evaluate before reacting.

AI makes propaganda more sophisticated.

Civics teaches how institutions work, which protects against deception.

Democracy cannot survive without an educated citizenry.

AI is powerful, but it is not responsible. Humans must be.

This is why civics — real civics — is urgently needed.

Conclusion: The Education of a Self-Governing People

History shows that democracies do not fall because enemies defeat them.
They fall because citizens forget how to govern themselves.

Civics teaches:

how power is structured
how laws are made
how rights are protected
how communities are built
how leaders should be chosen
how governments should behave
how citizens must participate

If literature strengthens the mind,
and history strengthens judgment,
and economics strengthens decision-making,

then civics strengthens the nation itself.

A free society is not sustained by wishes or by luck.
It is sustained by people who understand the system, value the responsibilities of citizenship, and guard the principles that keep liberty alive.

That is what civics is meant to teach —
and why it must remain at the heart of a complete education.

What Every Student Should Learn From Economics — The Missing Foundation for Adult Life

December 5, 2025.Reading time 10 minutes.

A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI (3 of 4 in a Series)

If I struggled with literature when I was young, and if I misunderstood the purpose of history, then economics was the third great gap in my early education. I went through high school without any real understanding of how money works, how governments raise and spend it, how markets respond to incentives, or how personal financial decisions compound over time. I did not grasp the forces shaping wages, prices, interest rates, trade, taxation, inflation, or debt. I did get a good dose in college.

Looking back, I can see clearly:
Economics is the core life subject that students most need — and most rarely receive in a meaningful way.

What educators should want every student to know from required economics courses is nothing less than the mental framework necessary to navigate adulthood, evaluate public policy, make financial decisions, and understand why nations prosper or struggle. Economics is not simply business; it is the study of how people, families, governments, and societies make choices. A few years ago, I attended a multi-day course for high school teachers hosted by the Dallas Federal Reserve. It was an outstanding experience. Resources are there today, thank goodness!

This essay explores the essential economic understanding every student deserves — and why it matters now more than ever.

1. Scarcity, Choice, and Opportunity Cost: The Law That Governs Everything

The first truth of economics is painfully simple:
We cannot have everything we want.

Every choice is a tradeoff. Students should walk away understanding that:

Choosing to spend money here means not spending it there.
Choosing one policy means giving up another.
Choosing time for one activity means sacrificing time for something else.

Economics calls this opportunity cost — the value of the next best alternative you give up.

Once a student grasps this, the world becomes clearer:

Why governments cannot fund unlimited programs.
Why cities must prioritize.
Why individuals must budget.
Why nations cannot tax, borrow, or spend without consequences.

This one idea alone can save people from poor decisions, unrealistic expectations, and political manipulation.

2. How Markets Work — And What Happens When They Don’t

Every student should understand the basics of markets:

Supply and demand
Prices as signals
Competition as a force for innovation
Incentives as drivers of behavior

These are not theories — they are observable realities.

Examples:

When the price of lumber rises, construction slows.
When wages rise in one industry, workers shift into it.
When a product becomes scarce, people value it more.

Students should also learn about market failures, when markets do not work well:

Externalities (pollution)
Monopolies (lack of competition)
Public goods (national defense)
Information asymmetry (the mechanic knows more than the customer)

A well-educated adult should understand why some things are best left to markets, and others require collective action.

3. Money, Inflation, and the Hidden Forces That Shape Daily Life

Economics teaches students what money actually is — a medium of exchange, a store of value, a unit of account. It teaches why inflation happens, how interest rates work, and why credit matters.

This is the knowledge people most need to avoid lifelong mistakes:

High-interest debt
Payday loans
Adjustable-rate surprises
Over-borrowing
Misunderstanding mortgages
Under-saving for retirement
Falling for financial scams

Inflation, especially, is a quiet teacher.
Students should know:

Why prices rise
How purchasing power erodes
Why governments sometimes overspend
How central banks attempt to stabilize the economy

Without this understanding, adults become vulnerable to false promises, political slogans, and emotional decisions disguised as economic policy.

4. Government, Taxes, Debt, and the Economics of Public Choices

Students should understand how governments fund themselves:

income taxes
sales taxes
property taxes
corporate taxes
tariffs
fees and permits

They should know the difference between:

deficits and debt
mandatory vs. discretionary spending
expansionary vs. contractionary policy

And they should understand the consequences of borrowing:

interest costs
crowding out
inflationary risks
intergenerational burdens

A citizen who understands these concepts is harder to fool with slogans like:

“Free college for everyone!”
“We can tax the rich for everything!”
“Deficits don’t matter!”
“We can cut taxes without cutting services!”

Economics teaches that every promise has a cost — and someone must pay it.

5. Personal Finance: The Economics of Everyday Life

If there is one area where economics should be utterly practical, it is here.
Every student needs to understand:

budgeting
saving
compound interest
emergency funds
insurance
investing basics
retirement accounts
debt management
risk vs. reward

Without this, students walk into adulthood with no map — and they learn lessons the hard way.

One simple example:
$200 saved per month from age 22 to 65 at 7% grows to roughly $500,000.
The same $200 saved starting at age 35 grows to only ~$200,000.

Time matters.
Compounding matters.
Knowing this early changes lives.

6. Global Economics: Trade, Jobs, and National Strength

Students should understand why countries trade:

comparative advantage
specialization
global supply chains
exchange rates

They should understand what drives:

tariffs
sanctions
trade deficits
manufacturing shifts
labor markets

This is the foundation for understanding why:

some industries move overseas
some cities decline while others rise
automation replaces certain jobs
immigration affects labor supply
global shocks (like pandemics or wars) reshape economies

A student with global economic literacy is less fearful and more informed — and can better adapt to economic change.

7. Economics and Human Behavior

Economics is not just numbers — it is a window into human nature.

Students should learn:

why incentives matter
why people respond predictably to policy changes
why scarcity shapes decisions
why risk and reward are universal
why unintended consequences are common

For example:

Overly generous unemployment benefits can reduce the incentive to return to work.
Rent control can reduce housing supply, raising prices long-term.
Strict zoning can artificially inflate housing costs.
Tax breaks can shift business decisions but may not produce promised jobs.

Economics helps students see beyond intentions to outcomes.

8. Why Economics Matters Even More in the Age of AI

AI has changed everything — except human nature and economic reality.

AI can process data, but it cannot interpret incentives.

Only a human mind can understand why people behave as they do.

AI can forecast trends, but it cannot grasp consequences.

Consequences require judgment shaped by real-world understanding.

AI can make decisions quickly, but it cannot weigh tradeoffs ethically.

Economics teaches students how those tradeoffs work.

AI makes bad decisions faster when guided by people who don’t understand economics.

A poorly trained human with a powerful tool is dangerous.
A well-trained human with the same tool is wise.

Economics is the steadying force that helps society use AI responsibly.

Conclusion: The Blueprint for a Competent Adult

What educators want students to gain from economics is not technical jargon or narrow theories. It is an understanding of how the world works.

Economics teaches:

how choices shape outcomes
how incentives drive behavior
how money, markets, and governments interact
why prosperity is fragile and must be understood
how individuals, families, and nations manage limited resources
how to avoid financial mistakes and public illusions

If literature strengthens the mind and imagination,
and history strengthens judgment and citizenship,
economics strengthens decision-making — the backbone of adult life.

Together, they form the education every young person deserves before entering the real world. And the most important thing I hope you take away from this essay and my experience: college in general and high school in particular is where you launch into a lifetime of learning (and re-learning). Anything you see in this series that you judge you missed, go back and learn! LFM

What Every Student Should Learn From History — And Why It Matters More Than Ever

December 4, 2025.Reading time 9 minutes.

A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI (2 of 4 in a Series)

I did not appreciate history when I was young. In school it felt like a jumble of dates, names, timelines, wars, and facts to memorize. I did not understand the purpose. I didn’t know how to study, I didn’t have mentors who could show me the deeper meaning, and I didn’t yet grasp the stakes. Little did I know that later in life I would marry and have a History Teacher as my partner for life.

Many of my history teachers were coaches. Their instructions were obligatory and without passion. That doesn’t excuse my behavior when I was jolted out of a trance as my teacher-coach impolitely asked if I wanted to go sit on a bulldozer outside the window and hold the operator’s cigar? RL Turner was under construction with a new wing every year I was there.

Years later, I came to see that history is not about memorizing the past — it is about understanding ourselves, our institutions, and the fragile world we inherit. It is about seeing the long arc of human behavior, the patterns of power, the recurring mistakes, and the moments when courage or wisdom changed everything.

What educators want students to learn in their required history courses is nothing less than the knowledge necessary to be responsible adults, thoughtful citizens, and wise participants in a free society.

This essay explores the core knowledge history is meant to provide — and why it matters now more than ever.

1. Understanding Cause and Effect in Human Affairs

At its heart, history teaches students to see how one event leads to another. Nothing happens in isolation.

World War I did not “just start.” It was the product of nationalism, alliances, imperial ambitions, and miscalculations.
The American Civil Rights Movement didn’t begin in 1955 with Rosa Parks; it was the result of centuries of injustice, Reconstruction failures, Jim Crow laws, and global human rights movements.
The Great Depression didn’t appear suddenly; it came from debt cycles, speculation, inequality, monetary decisions, and global linkages.

Students learn that societies succeed or fail for reasons — and those reasons can be studied, understood, and compared.

This is how history trains judgment.

2. Civic Literacy: Knowing How Your World Actually Works

A student who does not understand the history of:

the Constitution,
federalism,
separation of powers,
civil rights,
local government,
economic cycles,
or democratic institutions

…cannot fully participate in civic life.

History courses are designed to show how:

laws evolve
institutions adapt or break
cities rise or decline
policies succeed or backfire
rights are protected or lost

For example:

The struggles between small and large states at the Constitutional Convention explain today’s Senate and electoral system.
Reconstruction amendments explain modern voting rights battles.
The New Deal’s programs explain the foundations of Social Security, unemployment insurance, and federal regulation.

A student who knows this history is not easily misled by simplistic headlines or political rhetoric.

3. Recognizing Patterns: How Civilizations Rise, Prosper, and Fall

History gives students the ability to recognize enduring patterns.

Rome expanded, centralized power, grew decadent, ignored warnings, and fell.
Empires from the Ottomans to the British expanded too far and faced the limits of overreach. Later in history, you know more about “a bridge too far” than just a phrase.
Democracies faltered when citizens grew indifferent, cynical, or easily swayed by demagogues.

Students learn that:

debt can bring down nations
corruption corrodes institutions
leaders matter enormously
small decisions accumulate into major turning points
freedoms can vanish slowly before they disappear suddenly

History is not prophecy — but it is an early-warning system.

4. Learning From Mistakes We Never Want to Repeat

Human nature has not changed as much as we like to believe. The past is full of mistakes we must understand so we do not repeat them.

Examples include:

the Holocaust
slavery and segregation
totalitarianism in the 20th century
failed policies like Prohibition
economic disasters caused by speculation and deregulation
wars started by arrogance or misunderstanding
the letters of C.S. Lewis include him writing a friend on a Saturday night, saying he knows Hitler is bad news, but how compelling he sounded on the radio; then on Sunday after church, he writes another friend about a book he was going to write called The Screwtape Letters, about an old devil explaining to a young devil how to deceive a Christian.

When students learn these stories, they also learn humility — the humility to recognize that people before us believed they were right too.

History is the mirror that shows us our potential for both greatness and destruction.

5. Appreciating Hard-Won Progress

History is not only a record of failure — it is also a record of human resilience, courage, and moral progress.

Students learn:

how women gained the vote through decades of relentless organizing
how civil rights were won through sacrifice, leadership, and faith
how scientific and medical breakthroughs changed the world
how democracies have endured because ordinary people defended them

Understanding progress makes students wiser, more grateful, and more realistic about the work that remains.

6. Developing Perspective and Wisdom

History is one of the few subjects that cultivates perspective — the ability to see today’s challenges in context.

When you know:

America survived the Civil War
the nation rebuilt after the Great Depression
cities reinvented themselves after economic collapse
democracies withstood wars, recessions, and crises

…you gain a steadying wisdom.
You see that panic solves nothing, cycles are normal, and today’s crises are rarely unprecedented.

This is how history forms adults who are harder to manipulate and easier to reason with.

7. Why History Matters Even More in the Age of AI

Just as with literature, artificial intelligence has not reduced the value of historical understanding — it has magnified it.

AI can provide information, but it cannot judge truth.

Only a historically trained mind can distinguish between fact and propaganda, evidence and opinion, accuracy and distortion.

AI can summarize events, but it cannot explain causes.

It can tell you what happened — but only a thoughtful human being can interpret why it happened.

AI can generate narratives, but it cannot understand consequences.

Understanding consequences requires judgment shaped by actual historical knowledge.

AI can amplify misinformation.

A citizen without historical grounding is vulnerable in a world where false narratives spread instantly.

This is why history education is no longer optional — it is a civic defense mechanism.

Conclusion: The Memory of a Nation

What educators truly want students to learn from history is not trivia. They want students to know:

where we came from
how our institutions were built
how fragile democracy has always been
what strengthens a nation
what destroys one
why citizenship requires knowledge, not just opinion

History teaches humility, judgment, discernment, and perspective — qualities that only become more valuable as the world grows more complex.

If English literature teaches us how to understand the human heart,
history teaches us how to understand the human community: its failures, its triumphs, its responsibilities, and its future.

Together, they form an education worthy of a free people.

What Every Student Should Know: The Real Purpose of English Literature Education

December 3, 2025.Reading time 9 minutes.

A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI (1 of 4 in a series)

I was not a good student until long after college. My high school education was mediocre at best — partly because of the school, but mostly because of me. I didn’t know how to study. I didn’t seek help. I had no real intellectual mentors. I was lazy in a quiet, unintentional way and never understood the bigger purpose or long-term path of a good education. I knew how to get through classes, most of the time, but not how to learn from them.

It took years before I realized what I had missed and why those required English literature courses mattered far more than I ever understood at the time. What educators were really trying to give me — and every student — was not just exposure to books, but the foundation for thinking, communicating, understanding, and living well.

This essay explains what those courses are actually designed to teach, why they matter, and why they still matter in a world now shaped by artificial intelligence.

1. The Ability to Understand Complex Texts

A central purpose of literature education is to build the skill of reading difficult material — the kind students will face throughout their adult lives. High school graduates, and especially college graduates, must be able to read:

Long, nuanced arguments
Old or formal language
Symbolic or poetic writing
Dense reports, court opinions, contracts, and historical documents

Literature is the training ground for that ability.

Shakespeare teaches students how to decode older forms of English. Faulkner tests their patience and perseverance. Austen reveals the layers beneath social formality. Toni Morrison stretches their emotional and cultural imagination.

As students wrestle with these texts, they develop a quiet but essential confidence:
“I can understand things that are difficult.”
That confidence becomes a life skill.

2. Understanding How Literature Works

Educators also want students to understand the machinery behind writing — the basic tools every author uses to create meaning.

Students learn:

Metaphor (the green light in The Great Gatsby)
Symbolism (the conch shell in Lord of the Flies)
Point of view (Scout’s innocent narration in To Kill a Mockingbird)
Irony (Orwell’s weapon of choice in Animal Farm)
Imagery and diction (Frost’s careful simplicity)

The goal is not to create literary critics. The goal is to give students the ability to recognize how language shapes thought. A person who understands how a story works is better equipped to understand political messaging, advertising, public relations, or even everyday persuasion.

This is why literature is not a luxury — it’s training in how not to be fooled.

3. Cultural Literacy: Joining the Human Conversation

There are certain books, ideas, and stories that form a shared cultural foundation. Literature courses introduce students to the stories that have shaped society, not because they are old, but because they remain true.

Students learn why:

Sophocles still speaks to our conflicts between conscience and law.
Shakespeare still reveals jealousy, ambition, love, and betrayal.
Dickens still exposes economic injustice and compassion.
Orwell still warns us about surveillance, language manipulation, and authoritarianism.
Austen still exposes pride, social pressure, and misunderstanding.

A culturally literate student becomes a culturally capable adult — someone able to participate in discussions about society, politics, ethics, and history.

4. Critical Thinking: The Lifelong Skill

Perhaps the most valuable outcome of English literature education is critical thinking.

In reading, students must ask:

What is the author really saying?
Why did they choose this perspective, this language, this structure?
What assumptions lie underneath the text?
What does this reveal about the world or human nature?

A student who can interpret a complex novel can interpret a tax policy, a city budget, a political speech, or a scientific claim.
A student who can evaluate a character’s flawed reasoning can evaluate flawed reasoning in real life.

Literature is not merely about stories. It is about sharpening the mind’s ability to see clearly.

5. Communication and Writing Mastery

Every literature course is also a writing course, whether students realize it or not. The act of writing about literature teaches students to:

Argue from evidence
Organize thoughts coherently
Write with clarity and purpose
Support ideas logically
Use language with precision

These skills matter in every field: law, finance, medicine, management, politics, engineering, ministry, and public service.

A student who can explain the theme of Macbeth can write a clear email, a persuasive memo, a professional proposal, or a thoughtful report. Writing is not an English-specific skill — it is a leadership skill.

6. Empathy, Imagination, and Emotional Intelligence

Developing the mind is not enough. Literature develops the heart.

When students read:

Elie Wiesel’s Night they encounter the raw trauma of the Holocaust.
Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus they glimpse life in postcolonial Nigeria.
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men they feel loneliness and dignity in the lives of the marginalized.
The Odyssey teaches themes of homecoming, loyalty, and courage.

Literature gives students the ability to imagine lives that are not their own.
It cultivates empathy — the ability to understand and care about other people’s experiences.

This is not sentimental. It is essential for citizenship, leadership, community, and family.

7. Why Literature Still Matters in the Age of AI

In a world where artificial intelligence can summarize, rewrite, and generate text in seconds, some people ask whether traditional literature education still matters.

It matters more than ever.

AI can produce words, but it cannot replace judgment.

Only a well-educated human being can tell whether a paragraph is wise, ethical, manipulative, or true.

AI can generate information, but it cannot generate insight.

Insight is born only from a well-trained mind — one capable of making connections, recognizing patterns, understanding motives, and evaluating consequences.

AI can mimic style, but it cannot understand meaning.

Understanding meaning requires the human experiences literature cultivates: empathy, cultural awareness, emotional maturity, and moral imagination.

AI can assist thinking, but it cannot replace thinkers.

A person who has never read deeply cannot judge whether an AI’s output is sound.
A person who has read deeply can use AI the way a carpenter uses a tool — with skill, caution, and purpose.

This is why literature education is not obsolete in the age of AI. It is the antidote to shallow thinking in a time of overwhelming information.

Conclusion: The Mind, The Heart, and The Citizen

When educators require English literature classes, they are not trying to burden students with book reports. They are trying to form capable human beings.

They want students to leave school with:

The ability to read hard things
The capacity to think deeply
A sense of cultural inheritance
The skill to write clearly
The imagination to empathize
The judgment to navigate an AI-driven future

I learned these truths later in life, long after I realized how much I had coasted through school. But I now understand that English literature — at its best — does not simply teach books. It teaches people how to live, how to think, how to understand others, and how to contribute meaningfully to society.

It is one of the few subjects that strengthens both the mind and the soul. It is why I think, research and blog.

The Soundtrack of a Life

December 2, 2025.Reading time 12 minutes.

A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI

How Music Becomes the Memory, Meaning, and Map of Who We Are

Linda and I met in the first week of college when we were only 18. To this day, we can hear a song and instantly recall when we first heard it. Some evenings we will call up a concert we have saved on DirecTV. Linda knows precisely where to fast-forward so we can listen to a favorite. So, the topic of this essay is very close to our hearts.

Most of the time we assume music is something we listen to — a pleasant accessory to the tasks and routines of the day. But if you pay attention, music is more like a hidden autobiography, quietly recording your inner life long before you are aware that a story is being written. The songs you return to, the ones that startle you when they play unexpectedly, the rare few that undo you in the quiet of a car or a grocery aisle — these are not just sound. They are memory in motion. They are identity with a rhythm.

Music does not simply accompany life; it arranges it. What memory loses, music preserves. What time distorts, music restores. And what emotion cannot articulate, music gives shape to with uncanny accuracy.

To understand this is to understand something profound about what it means to be human.

I. Music and the Mind’s First Language

Long before a child has words, they have rhythm. Infants calm at the steady cadence of a lullaby and recognize the pattern of a familiar voice long before understanding vocabulary. This is because the brain does not treat music as entertainment; it treats it as structure — a patterned, predictable, emotionally charged signal that is perfectly engineered for memory.

But music does something even deeper: it bypasses the intellectual filters adults use to sanitize emotion. A melody goes straight to the limbic system, sparking feelings before thought. That is why a song can make you cry before you even remember its meaning. The brain is reacting not to the information in the song, but to its emotional imprint.

Music, in this sense, is the first language of the inner life — the way feeling precedes understanding.

II. The Way Music Stores Time

Most memories fade, and many blur into general impressions. But not the memories attached to certain songs. These remain startlingly specific — not because the events were necessarily remarkable, but because music sealed them in.

What is remarkable is how effortless this process is. You do not choose to remember your first heartbreak through a particular ballad, or a college summer through a song that filled your roommate’s car. You do not choose the hymn that makes your throat tighten at a funeral, or the chorus that instantly brings back the living room of your childhood home. Music chooses for you.

There is something mysterious about the mind’s insistence on tethering emotion to sound. A song becomes a kind of timestamp. It gives the memory a fixed point in the otherwise loose fabric of time, and when the melody returns, the memory returns with it — intact, immediate, almost shockingly alive.

We often say a song “takes us back,” but the deeper truth is that the song allows the past to take hold of us again.

III. Music as Emotional Truth

There are emotions you can explain and emotions you can only feel. Music specializes in the latter. A melody can carry a complexity no sentence can hold. Consider the strange, tender ache of nostalgia — how a song can make you long for a life you no longer live or even one you never lived at all. Or consider the way a joyful song can suddenly reveal a sorrow you didn’t realize was sitting under the surface.

Music tells the truth of emotion without asking permission.

This is why people instinctively turn to it during grief, celebration, transition, or uncertainty. It steadies the self by restoring emotional coherence. In moments when language fails — when a prayer is wordless, when a loss is fresh, when a change is too large to understand — music becomes a way of anchoring the heart long enough for meaning to catch up.

IV. Why Some Songs Become Too Heavy to Carry

Everyone has songs they avoid — not because they dislike them, but because they are too full. A melody can carry the weight of a relationship, a season, or a dream that has since dissolved. Some songs hurt because they still tell the truth about who you were and who you loved, and the distance between then and now becomes too pronounced to bear.

But even these difficult songs serve a purpose. They remind us that the deepest chapters of our lives are rarely tidy. Music preserves the emotional residue of experiences that shaped us, even when we’d prefer to move on. The song remembers us more honestly than we sometimes remember ourselves.

And that honesty, however painful, is a form of reverence for what mattered.

V. Music as a Spiritual Technology

Even people who claim no religious belief often describe music in spiritual terms. It elevates, unites, quiets, or stirs the human spirit in ways that resemble prayer. Religious traditions have always understood this. Faith communities sing not because they need background noise, but because music allows meaning to move through people collectively, bypassing the intellectual hesitation that often dilutes belief.

A sung truth is felt before it is understood — and therefore becomes more deeply held.

Music is not a doctrine, but it delivers feeling with the force of revelation. It makes the invisible inner life audible.

VI. The Older We Grow, the More Our Soundtrack Solidifies

There is a moment in adulthood when you realize new music no longer imprints the way it once did. Songs still move you, but they do not become part of your inner architecture the way earlier ones did. Neurobiologists confirm this: the teenage and young adult years are when the brain is most porous to musical encoding, which is why those songs remain disproportionately powerful decades later.

By middle age, the soundtrack of your life is largely complete, and new music becomes something enjoyed but not absorbed. This is why older adults return to the songs they loved when they were young — not for nostalgia alone, but because those songs contain the memory of a self that time cannot fully dissolve.

Music becomes a way of maintaining continuity across the changing seasons of one’s identity.

VII. The Soundtrack We Become for Others

Most people think of their personal soundtrack as something private — the way certain songs follow them through life. What they often forget is that they have also become part of someone else’s soundtrack.

The lullaby you hummed.
The song you danced to at a wedding.
The hymn you sang beside a friend in a difficult season.
The album you played on a long drive with your child.
The record your mother played while cleaning the house.

Music is how we inhabit each other’s memories.

We rarely know which musical moments attach to the people we love. Years later, long after you’re gone, someone may hear a familiar song and be struck by a sudden, tender ache — not because of the music itself, but because it summoned your presence back into the room.

Music is one of the few ways we outlive ourselves without trying.

VIII. The Soundtrack as a Hidden Biography

A person’s life story includes far more than events.
It includes the emotional texture of those events — the inner landscape where meaning took shape. Music is the most faithful curator of that landscape.

If you were to line up the songs that have moved you most deeply, you could trace the entire shape of your life:

When you felt safe
When you felt lost
When you fell in love
When you learned resilience
When you dreamed big
When you let go
When you grieved
When you healed

Music is not a chronicle of facts.
It is a narrative of feeling — a record of who you became in the moments that mattered.

And because we never know which moments will matter most, the soundtrack evolves without our consent, revealing its meaning only in hindsight.

Conclusion: Listening Backward, Living Forward

Life changes, but the soundtrack remains.
We grow older, but the songs stay young.
We become different people, but music reintroduces us to every version we’ve ever been.

In the end, the soundtrack of your life is not merely a collection of songs. It is a map — a quiet, sensitive cartography of memory, identity, loss, love, change, and meaning. It tells the truth about you in ways you may not know how to express in words.

And the greatest mystery of all is this:

You did not choose most of it.
It chose you — and in doing so, it carried pieces of your life forward that time alone could never preserve.

If you listen closely enough,
you can hear your own story singing back to you.

Mass Shootings in America

December 1, 2025.Reading time 33 minutes.

A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI

Hard Lessons, Real Stories, and the Ground-Level Solutions Law Enforcement Says Actually Work

Mass shootings in America have become a recurring national nightmare: predictable yet unpredictable, familiar yet devastating, common yet individually shattering. The politics surrounding them often emphasize blame, ideology, or emotion. What receives far less attention is the actual investigative DNA of these attacks — the timelines, the warnings, the coordination failures, and the moments when someone did intervene and stopped a massacre before it began.

To understand what truly works, we must look at the cases, not the slogans. The lives lost — and the lives saved — tell us more than any press conference or political tweet.

This essay explores the problem the way police, detectives, and federal threat-assessment specialists see it: case by case, pattern by pattern, weakness by weakness, and success by success.

I. What Mass Shootings Look Like Through Law Enforcement Eyes

Ask any detective with experience in threat assessment, and they will tell you a truth that ordinary Americans rarely hear:

“We almost always know who’s spiraling long before the shooting happens.
The problem is — nobody acts fast enough, firmly enough, or in sync.”

The datasets from the FBI, Secret Service, ATF, and state fusion centers show several common threads:

Shooters leak intent.
They study previous attacks.
They experience years of decline — socially, mentally, financially, emotionally.
They accumulate grievances.
Someone always notices something.

Law enforcement doesn’t describe these as “senseless crimes.”
They describe them as interceptable crises.

II. Real Cases That Reveal How Systems Fail — and Could Have Succeeded

These examples are not chosen to support any ideology.
They are simply the clearest windows into reality.

**1. SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX (2017)

A tragedy by bureaucracy — 26 killed, 22 injured**

Shooter convicted of domestic violence in the Air Force
Legally prohibited from firearm ownership
Air Force never uploaded the conviction into NICS
He passed background checks he should have failed

A church full of families was devastated because a clerk in a military office did not submit a form.

Law enforcement conclusion:
“Fix the reporting system and this shooter never gets a gun.”

**2. UVALDE, TX (2022)

Dozens of warnings — none acted on in time**

Multiple students reported terrifying social media posts
The shooter had photos of weapons, threats, violent messages
Friends said he was “spiraling”
A near-complete mental health collapse went unaddressed

The tragedy in Uvalde was compounded by a catastrophic police response — but the earlier failures are equally important: warning signs ignored, red flags dismissed, no early intervention team engaged.

Law enforcement conclusion:
“If someone had been empowered to intervene early, this kid never reaches that school door.”

**3. MIDLAND–ODESSA, TX (2019)

He failed a background check — then bought a weapon privately**

Shooter tried to buy a gun from a licensed dealer
He FAILED the background check
He then purchased a rifle through a private sale with no check
He spiraled, snapped during a traffic stop, and killed 7 people

Texas DPS and FBI called this case the “perfect storm of loopholes.”

Law enforcement conclusion:
“A failed background check should trigger a welfare follow-up.
Nobody checked on him.”

**4. FORT HOOD, TX (2009)

A shooter telegraphed his radicalization — nothing done**

Major Nidal Hasan repeatedly communicated extremist ideology
Colleagues reported him
Concerns were dismissed to avoid accusations of bias

This case shows what law enforcement calls “hesitation risk” — institutions afraid to act decisively.

**5. LAS VEGAS, NV (2017)

The outlier — almost no warning signs**

This shooter is the exception that proves the rule.
Law enforcement found:

no threats,
no manifesto,
no social media trail,
no extremist network.

He was wealthy, isolated, and meticulous.

Conclusion:
A tiny percentage of cases will bypass all prevention systems.
Most will not.

III. The Cases Where Mass Shootings Were Prevented — Proof That Prevention Works

These are not theories.
These are real, documented saves.

1. Richmond, VA (2022) — A July 4th massacre stopped cold

A man overheard a conversation about an attack planned on a holiday celebration.
He reported it.
Police uncovered weapons, plans, and a manifesto.

Lives saved: potentially hundreds.

2. Lubbock, TX (2021) — A 13-year-old stopped before carrying out school attack

The student had:

a detailed map
a written kill list
weapons ready
a manifesto

His grandmother found the notebook and reported him immediately.

Law enforcement conclusion:
“Family vigilance prevented mass casualties.”

3. Daytona Beach, FL (2019) — Threat assessment works

A student posted online:
“I’m going to shoot up the school.”

A classmate reported it.
Within hours:

police arrived
family cooperated
weapons were secured
boy received psychiatric evaluation

A textbook intervention.

4. Washington State (2015) — School attack prevented by a friend’s courage

A 15-year-old planned a Columbine-style attack.
He shared part of his plan with a friend.
The friend reported it, despite fear of social backlash.

Police discovered:

an AK-47
detailed plans
written threats

Friendship and courage saved a school.

5. Plano, TX Workplace Attack Prevented (2016)

A disgruntled employee expressed violent intent toward coworkers.
HR flagged it.
The company called police.
He was interviewed, weapons removed, and evaluated.

No attack occurred.

IV. What Law Enforcement Says Actually Works (Not Ideology — Evidence)

After decades of analysis, police agencies, FBI profilers, Secret Service behavioral specialists, and state threat-assessment units consistently identify five high-impact, realistic solutions.

Not bans.
Not fantasies.
Not slogans.

Real solutions grounded in actual casework.

1. Fix the Data — The Fastest Way to Save Lives

Cases like Sutherland Springs and Midland–Odessa show the role of:

missing convictions
unfiled restraining orders
unreported mental-health rulings
incorrect identifiers

Law enforcement calls this:

“The invisible failure that kills.”

The fix:
mandatory reporting audits and penalties for noncompliance.

2. County-Wide Threat Assessment Teams (The Best Tool We Have)

Teams combining:

sheriff’s office
schools
mental health
prosecutors
social workers

These teams already exist in:

Virginia (after Virginia Tech)
Florida (after Parkland)
Utah (statewide)
North Texas school districts

And they work.

They have stopped dozens of planned attacks by:

interviewing individuals
securing weapons temporarily
offering services
coordinating follow-up
de-escalating crises

This is the single most successful prevention method America has.

3. Mandatory Follow-Up on Credible Threat Reports

This is not punitive.
It is welfare-based intervention, used worldwide.

Every credible threat triggers:

a home visit
mental-health assessment
background check review
firearm-safety conversation (or temporary transfer if warranted)
follow-up plan

This would have intervened in:

Parkland
Uvalde
Santa Fe
Highland Park
El Paso
Dayton

Law enforcement overwhelmingly supports this.

4. Hardening Soft Targets — Without Militarizing Them

Realistic, non-intrusive upgrades:

shatter-resistant glass
classroom doors that lock from inside
unified communications (so responders hear the same thing)
interior safe zones
trained voluntary armed staff (Texas Guardian Program)
real-time law enforcement access to building layouts
festival/event perimeter redesigns

These upgrades prevented casualties in:

West Freeway Church of Christ, White Settlement, TX (armed volunteer stopped shooter in seconds, 2019)
Arvada, CO store attack (2021)
multiple school attacks where locked classrooms saved children

5. Breaking Adult Isolation — The Hidden Variable

Law enforcement notes a growing pattern: older, isolated, grievance-driven adults.

Examples:

Half Moon Bay (2023)
Buffalo supermarket shooter lived in complete isolation for years
Dayton shooter with obsessive ideation
Midland–Odessa shooter living alone in a squalid shack

Effective interventions:

workplace threat reporting
veteran wellness checks
aging men’s mental health programs
community navigator teams
training employers to recognize decompensation

These are low-cost and high-impact.

V. The Most Underreported Factor: Courage of Bystanders

Again and again, the preventions happened because someone —

a coworker
a teacher
a classmate
a grandmother
a friend
a roommate

— chose to speak up.

Law enforcement calls this:

“The single most important variable in preventing mass violence.”

Bystanders save more lives than laws.

VI. The Moral Imperative: Replace Hopelessness With Method

Mass shootings aren’t random.
They aren’t unpredictable.
And they aren’t unsolvable.

What we need isn’t a perfect solution — it’s a functional system.

Competent reporting
Seamless coordination
Early intervention
Community eyes
Physical barriers that buy seconds
Adults who refuse to look away

These are the realistic, proven, workable solutions that law enforcement supports because they have watched them succeed in the field.

Conclusion: A Country That Can Change — If It Wants To

America doesn’t have to choose between freedom and safety.
It must choose between chaos and coordination.

The truth is painful but hopeful:

Most mass shootings are preventable.
Not with bans.
Not with magic.
But with systems that work and communities that care.

This is not a political argument.
It is a practical one — written in blood and proven by the cases where tragedy was avoided.

The question now is whether the country is willing to move beyond slogans and toward the solutions that actually save lives.

**APPENDIX

Texas Mass Violence Prevention Framework (2025 Edition)**
A State-Specific Policy, Law-Enforcement, and Case-Based Reference

I. Texas Case Studies (Successes and Failures)

Texas provides a uniquely large dataset for examining mass shootings: rural, suburban, urban, along the border, in oilfield regions, in major metros. These cases reveal consistent system gaps.

A. When the System Failed

1. Sutherland Springs (2017) — Data Failure

Domestic violence conviction not reported by the Air Force
Shooter passed background checks he should have failed
26 dead, 22 wounded

Gap identified: Failure to report disqualifying convictions to NICS.
Texas impact: Dozens of counties still fail to upload mental-health adjudications consistently.

2. Santa Fe High School (2018) — No Warning System

10 killed, 13 injured
Shooter had written violent fantasies, wore trench coat daily, showed disturbing art
None of it triggered intervention under existing school policies

Gap identified: Lack of integrated school threat-assessment teams pre-Parkland-style reforms.

3. El Paso Walmart Attack (2019) — Ideology, Isolation, and Online Radicalization

Shooter posted manifesto 20 minutes before attack
Family saw increasing withdrawal but did not see a way to intervene legally
23 killed, 22 injured

Gap identified: No statewide reporting mechanism for family concern + lack of early intervention infrastructure.

4. Midland–Odessa (2019) — Failed Check + No Follow-Up

Shooter failed a background check
Still obtained rifle via private sale
Escaped all follow-up and monitoring
7 killed, 25 injured

Gap identified: Texas has no “background check failure follow-up” protocol for welfare checks.

5. Uvalde (2022) — Warnings but No Coordinated Response

30+ warning signs in digital posts
Peers alarmed
Threat assessment not mobilized
Failed command, failed entry, failed radios, failed leadership

Gaps identified:

early intervention
communication systems
unified command
school hardening
law-enforcement coordination

B. When the System Worked (Successful Texas Preventions)

1. Lubbock (2021) — Grandmother Stops School Attack

13-year-old with kill list, weapons, and plans
Grandmother reported him immediately
Police confiscated weapons, intervened, managed mental-health services

Success factor: Courageous family reporting + rapid police response + cooperative mental health team.

2. Plano Workplace Threat (2016)

Employee threatened violence after disciplinary action
HR flagged it
Plano PD intervened
Shooter’s plan was disrupted without arrest

Success factor: Employer training + HR protocols + law enforcement follow-through.

3. White Settlement Church (2019)

Shooter killed two people during service
Armed volunteer neutralized the shooter within 6 seconds
Attack ended before a second reload

Success factor: Legitimated armed volunteer program (“Guardian”-style model) + training + mental readiness.

4. North Texas High School Plots Disrupted (Multiple 2020–2024)

School districts in Denton, Collin, and Tarrant Counties thwarted more than a dozen serious plots because of:

school resource officers
student tips
routine digital threat monitoring
counseling interventions
multi-party threat assessment teams

Success factor: Post-Parkland statewide reforms requiring threat assessment teams in ISDs.

II. Texas Law Enforcement Consensus (Interviews, Briefings & Reports)

Across:

Texas Police Chiefs Association
County Sheriffs
DPS briefings
Texas School Safety Center
Fusion centers
Large-city PDs (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth)

The consistent message is this:

“Almost every mass shooting is preventable if someone can act early —
but the system doesn’t empower people to act.”

Their concerns fall into five categories:

1. Lack of Consequences for Non-Reporting

Agencies that fail to upload disqualifying records face no meaningful penalties.
Sheriffs say:

“If reporting is optional, tragedy is inevitable.”

2. Fragmented Threat Assessment

Texas has strong school systems, but adult threat assessment is weak.

DPS Colonel Steven McCraw has repeatedly said:

“Adult shooters fall completely outside school safety structures.”

3. Soft Targets and Weak Facilities

Sheriffs in rural counties often point out:

“Our churches, fairs, festivals, and schools were built before the era of mass violence.”

Meaning: physical layouts are outdated.

4. Too Many Lone, Isolated, Angry Adults

Texas PDs say they increasingly deal with:

divorced, isolated adult men
untreated mental illness
workplace grievances
housing-insecure individuals
online radicalization across the spectrum

This is the modern offender profile — not simply youth shooters.

5. No Statewide Mechanism for “Background Check Failures”

Law enforcement consistently recommends:

“If someone fails a background check, they should receive a welfare check.
Not to seize weapons — but to understand the risk.”

This one reform would have prevented Midland–Odessa.

III. Concrete State-Level Solutions (Non-Ideological and Realistic)

These are politically feasible, budget-achievable, and supported by law enforcement.

1. Mandatory Reporting Compliance Audits

Texas should audit:

county clerks
JP courts
district courts
mental-health orders
protective orders

Goal: ensure all disqualifying convictions enter NICS/DPS within 24–72 hours.

Cost: low
Impact: high

2. “Texas Adult Threat Assessment Teams” (T-ATAT)

Modeled after school threat teams but focused on adults.

Teams would include:

Sheriff’s office
Constables
Mental health mobile crisis units
Prosecutors
Social workers
Veteran services
Employers (optional)

Focus:

early intervention
de-escalation
temporary safety plans
coordinated follow-up

This responds to half the Texas shooter profile, which is adult male isolation.

3. Background Check Failure Protocol (Welfare Check + Mental Health Screen)

If a Texan:

fails a background check
attempts an illegal straw purchase
makes “alarmingly specific” threats

…then DPS notifies the sheriff in that county.

Sheriff conducts:

welfare check
mental-health referral (if needed)
firearm safety conversation
case documentation

No confiscation required.
No criminal charge required.

Simply breaking the isolation saves lives.

4. Realistic Target Hardening for Schools, Churches & Events

Low-cost priorities:

shatter-resistant entry glass
interior locking mechanisms
campus-wide communication systems
unified law enforcement radio channels
updated maps accessible digitally to responders
controlled-access vestibules
volunteer security programs

These already saved lives at:

White Settlement church
West Texas schools where locked classrooms stopped entry
multiple thwarted school plots

5. Community Navigator Teams for Isolated Adults

Texas sheriffs strongly endorse pilot programs in:

rural counties
oilfield regions
borderside colonias
veteran-dense areas

Navigators perform:

wellness checks
reconnecting individuals to family, church, social services
employment referrals
mental health connection
regular follow-up

This is cheap and effective.

6. Employer Training Statewide (especially in high-stress industries)

Texas mass violence often emerges from:

trucking
energy sector
distribution warehouses
food processing plants
call centers

Employers need:

threat-recognition training
HR escalation pathways
connections to sheriff’s offices

This prevented the Plano case.

IV. “What Good Intervention Looks Like” — Texas Examples

Case A: North Texas High School Plot Stopped (2023)

Student posted detailed shooting threat
Classmates reported immediately
Threat team met same day
Parents cooperated
Police conducted home visit
Weapons removed temporarily
Student entered crisis counseling
No criminal record created

Outcome:
No violence.
Family relieved.
School safe.
Child receives long-term care.

Case B: Rural West Texas Veteran (2020)

Veteran in crisis making alarming comments
Neighbor reported
Sheriff’s deputy and veteran liaison responded
Weapons temporarily transferred to brother
Veteran placed in VA crisis stabilization program
Follow-up by navigator team

Outcome:
Incident avoided.
Veteran stabilized.
No arrests.
Family grateful.

Case C: Dallas-Area Workplace (2022)

Worker said he wanted to “take out” supervisors
HR trained under Texas Workplace Safety Pilot Program
HR called police
PD interviewed, implemented voluntary safety plan
Mental health assistance provided
Employer changed his job assignment

Outcome:
No violence.
Employee recovered, remained employed.

V. Statewide Recommended Implementation Plan

Year 1 (Fast Wins)

NICS reporting audits
Texas Adult Threat Assessment Teams (pilot in 8 major counties)
DCFS and mental health reporting refreshers
Standardized threat reporting hotline

Year 2 (Scalable Programs)

statewide employer training
community navigator expansion
school physical-security retrofits
integrated law enforcement communications

Year 3 (Long-Term Infrastructure)

full digital courthouse → DPS transmission
unified statewide threat-assessment database
mental-health telecrisis network across rural counties

VI. “Texas Principles” for Mass Violence Prevention

Law enforcement leaders often summarize what works into three Texas-style principles:

1. “If it’s predictable, it’s preventable.”**

Almost every attacker reveals intent.

2. “You can’t fix what you don’t see.”**

Isolation breeds violence — intervention disrupts it.

3. “Don’t wait for perfect. Act when something seems wrong.”**

Prevention happens early or not at all.

VII. Conclusion of Appendix

Texas is poised to lead the nation with non-ideological, realistic, enforceable policies that:

honor the Second Amendment
respect local control
prioritize law enforcement input
rely on early intervention, not confiscation
strengthen communities, not weaken them
save lives without dividing the country

Mass violence is not an unsolved mystery.
It is a coordination problem, a communication problem, and at its core, a human connection problem.

Texas can fix these.
Texas has the tools.
Texas has the cases.
And now, Texas has the blueprint.

**APPENDIX B

“What I’ve Learned After 20 Years Responding to Mass Violence”
A Law Enforcement Perspective

I’ve worn a badge in Texas for more than two decades. I’ve seen quiet towns shaken by unspeakable violence, and I’ve seen ordinary citizens step up to prevent tragedies the public will never hear about. I’ve walked through crime scenes that will stay with me until the day I retire, and I’ve sat at kitchen tables with parents who have no words left except, “Why?”

After all this time, I’ve learned that nearly everything the public argues about is only a sliver of the truth. Mass violence doesn’t happen because one law wasn’t passed or because one political side is right and the other is wrong. It happens because systems fail, people look away, warnings go unreported, and institutions are afraid to act when someone is spiraling.

This is what it looks like from where I stand.

I. “We Almost Always Know”

The hardest truth is this:

In most cases, the shooter was on someone’s radar long before they opened fire.

I’m not talking about clairvoyance.
I’m talking about patterns.

In case after case, we’ve seen:

threats posted online
violent fantasies shared with friends
domestic disturbances
histories of grievance and obsession
escalating isolation
coworker concerns
school warnings
welfare checks that never happened
mental health breaks that went untreated

We call these “pre-incident indicators.”
They’re real. They’re measurable. And they’re almost always present.

The tragedy is not that we don’t know —
it’s that we don’t act fast enough or in sync enough.

II. “It’s Not the Gun — It’s the Spiral”

I’ve taken more guns off the street than I can remember. Hunting rifles. Handguns. A few illegally modified weapons. And yes, rifles with large magazines.

But here’s the truth you learn after 20 years:

It’s never the gun in isolation.
It’s the downward slide no one interrupts.

Shooters are rarely “snapped” individuals.
They are individuals who decline over months or years.

We see:

isolation
job loss
family collapse
grievance accumulation
untreated depression
anger fixation
obsession with previous shooters
social withdrawal
personality change

By the time they act violently, they’ve been at the bottom of a well for a long time—and no one lowered a rope.

If you want to know what law enforcement believes will make the biggest difference, it’s this:

Catch the spiral before the crash.

III. “Families Know First”

I wish the public understood how many times a parent, sibling, spouse, or grandparent has quietly whispered to me:

“I’m scared of what he might do.”
“He’s not the same person anymore.”
“He talks about violence.”

But they didn’t know what to do.
They didn’t want their family member arrested.
They didn’t want to “ruin his life.”
They didn’t know if it was serious.
Sometimes they were embarrassed.

Here’s what I want every Texan to know:

Calling us doesn’t automatically mean a criminal charge.
Most of the time, early intervention means:

mental-health evaluation
voluntary firearm transfer
crisis services
counseling
follow-ups
family coordination

The public imagines a SWAT raid.
What usually happens is a conversation at the kitchen table.

IV. “Threat Assessment Teams Work — Better Than Anything Else We’ve Tried”

The best tool we have isn’t complicated:

Get the right people around the same table before someone gets hurt.

A threat assessment team — the way we run them in parts of Texas — includes:

detectives
school representatives
mental-health clinicians
prosecutors
social service partners
sometimes clergy or veterans’ liaisons

When these teams function, they catch things that no single agency would ever catch alone.

I’ve seen teams:

talk a teenager out of a violent plan
get an unstable adult into treatment
mediate workplace grievances
defuse domestic crises
remove firearms voluntarily
help families reconnect
stop ideologically motivated plots

And the public never knows because nothing bad happened.

I can tell you without hesitation:

Threat assessment has prevented more mass shootings than any law ever passed.

V. “Follow-Up Saves Lives”

One of the biggest failures in this country is the belief that if someone doesn’t break the law, there’s nothing we can do.

That’s false.

We can:

check on them
talk to them
bring mental-health professionals
involve the family
secure weapons voluntarily
create a safety plan
follow up again and again

The cases that haunt me are the ones where the warning signs were clear, someone called, and then the file sat on a desk — or was never shared with the people who could act.

The most effective thing we can do is simple:

If a credible threat comes in, someone must check on that person within 24 hours.

Not to arrest.
To assess.
To intervene early.

VI. “You Don’t Need to Militarize a School to Make It Safe”

I’ve been inside dozens of Texas schools.
Some built in the 1960s with glass doors that could be breached by a lawn chair.
Some built after 2018 with lockdown doors, radio repeaters, and secure vestibules.

You know what helps?

classroom doors that lock from the inside
shatter-resistant glass
clear communication systems
unified law enforcement radio channels
controlled access
trained school staff who know what to do

You know what doesn’t help?

finger-pointing
slogans
political theater

Small, inexpensive improvements save more lives than any sweeping overhaul.

VII. “We Need Community, Not Just Cops”

People assume mass violence is a police problem.
It isn’t.

It’s a community problem.

The most important actors in prevention are:

families
coworkers
HR officers
school counselors
pastors
friends
neighbors

You see the cracks before we do.
You see the shift in behavior.
You hear the disturbing comment.
You watch the decline.

And when you call us, you give us a chance to help before the damage is done.

VIII. “The Truth No One Wants to Admit”

I’ve seen evil.
I’ve seen pain.
I’ve seen things I won’t describe in a public essay.

But I’ve also seen:

a grandmother save a school
a coworker prevent a workplace massacre
a pastor de-escalate a veteran in crisis
a teacher stop a tragedy with one phone call
a church security volunteer act in six seconds to end a deadly attack

The truth is this:

Mass shootings are not unstoppable.
They are unaddressed.
There’s a difference.

We can fix this.
We know how.
We have the tools.
We just have to use them consistently.

IX. My Message to Texans

If you want to save lives, don’t start with Congress.
Start with:

local coordination
early intervention
better reporting
stronger families
human connection
courage when something feels wrong

Texas has already stopped attacks because the right person spoke up.
And Texas has suffered attacks because the right person stayed silent.

We can change that.

X. Final Word

I’ve carried children out of classrooms.
I’ve stepped over shell casings in churches.
I’ve held the hands of grieving parents.
I’ve watched communities heal with patience, courage, and love.

I don’t want to see another town go through this.
And we don’t have to.

Not if we act early.
Not if we act together.
Not if we see the warning signs and refuse to ignore them.

Most shooters are preventable long before a trigger is ever pulled.
Our job is to step in before someone reaches the point of no return.

And that is something Texas can lead the nation in doing — not through division, but through determination.

Wandering Words: A Historical Essay on Sayings That Describe Being Pushed Around, Moved About, and Sent Nowhere

November 30, 2025.Reading time 9 minutes.

A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI

Language is a museum of human experience, and idioms are its most portable artifacts. Expressions like “from pillar to post,” “run ragged,” “at sixes and sevens,” and “passed around like a hot potato” have survived centuries because they express a universal, timeless sensation: the feeling of being pushed around by forces larger than yourself.

These sayings were not created in classrooms or dictionaries. They were born in medieval tennis courts, gambling halls, farmyards, naval ships, industrial mills, American circuses, and children’s playgrounds. They reflect the physical worlds their speakers inhabited—worlds full of storms, livestock, spinning wheels, dice, ropes, maps, and relentless motion.

What follows is a historical journey through twelve idioms that describe disorder, confusion, displacement, or helpless motion. Together, they show how generations have described the chaos of life through the imagery of movement.

I. “From Pillar to Post”: The Medieval Tennis Court as Life’s Metaphor

The earliest root of this expression lies in real tennis, the indoor ancestor of modern tennis played in medieval Europe. Real tennis courts were complex architectural spaces with pillars, posts, galleries, buttresses, and windows. Balls struck wildly between these structures forced players to run helplessly back and forth.

By the mid-1500s, English writers were using “from pillar to post” to describe people being:

harassed
shuttled
confused
ordered around
battered by fate

The metaphor left the court and entered common speech as a vivid illustration of helpless movement.

II. “Run Ragged”: Exhaustion in the Age of Industry

During the 18th and 19th centuries, as industrial machinery reshaped labor, the phrase “run ragged” captured a new kind of fatigue.

“Ragged” meant torn or frayed, like cloth worn thin by constant use.
In factories, both equipment and people were pushed past durability.

By the Victorian era, newspapers described servants, clerks, and factory workers as being “run ragged,” connecting the phrase permanently with overwork and depletion.

III. “Thrown for a Loop”: America’s Century of Motion

This distinctly American idiom appeared in print around 1908–1920. Two likely origins exist:

Circus acrobatics, where aerial performers spun in loops.
Railroad switching loops, where sudden track diversions jolted trains.

Either way, the idiom’s sense is clear: a sudden shock that leaves a person disoriented, spun around by surprise.

IV. “Led Around by the Nose”: Medieval Bulls and Human Gullibility

Farmers controlled bulls using metal nose-rings, allowing even a small handler to direct a massive animal. The image was so striking that by the Middle Ages, English writers were already applying it to people who were easily manipulated.

To be “led around by the nose” was to be:

dominated
controlled
deceived
pushed into decisions without autonomy

It is one of the oldest metaphors for human manipulation.

V. “All Over the Map”: When Geography Became Daily Life

As maps spread across the 19th century—into schoolrooms, boardrooms, war rooms, and the public imagination—“all over the map” developed as a figurative description of mental or organizational chaos. The idiom reflects:

military campaigns
colonial administration
railroad expansion
bureaucratic planning
commercial networks

If you were “all over the map,” your thoughts, plans, or actions were scattered across wide distances, unanchored and unfocused.

VI. “At Sixes and Sevens”: A Medieval Gamble with Failure

Perhaps the most ancient idiom on this list, “at sixes and sevens” appears in Chaucer (1380s). Its origin lies in the medieval dice game hazard, where the riskiest and most reckless throw involved six and seven.

Gamblers who staked everything on such a roll were said to be in disorder, danger, or confusion.

Over the centuries, the meaning broadened to describe any situation of:

chaos
confusion
disarray
being out of alignment

VII. “Hither and Yon” / “To and Fro”: The Rhythm of Old English

These expressions derive from Old English directional words:

hider → here
þider → there
to and fro → forward and back

They appear in sermons, poems, and everyday conversation from the earliest centuries of English. These paired-direction expressions once helped listeners follow movement in oral storytelling, and they survive today as elegant descriptions of wandering or restless motion.

VIII. “Sent Packing”: The Abrupt Dismissals of Tudor England

This expression dates to the 1500s and is often associated with Shakespeare.

To “send someone packing” meant to order them to gather their belongings and leave immediately, usually in disgrace. Soldiers, servants, and apprentices knew the term well.

It conveys humiliation, rejection, and sudden displacement.

IX. “Driven from Stem to Stern”: From Maritime Hardship to Total Thoroughness

The expression originally described sailors forced to run the entire length of a ship during storms or combat.

Stem = the very front of the ship
Stern = the very back

To be driven “from stem to stern” was to be swept or pushed across the whole vessel, usually under duress.

Modern Meaning (Important Clarification)

Today, the phrase is more commonly used metaphorically to mean:

completely
thoroughly
from top to bottom

Example: “They cleaned the house from stem to stern.”

The nautical origin gave way to the broader sense of total coverage, which is now far more common.

X. “Passed Around Like a Hot Potato”: Childhood Games Become Social Commentary

In the 19th century, children played a simple game: toss a hot potato quickly so you don’t get “burned.”

Adults adopted the metaphor to describe:

unwanted responsibilities
bureaucratic avoidance
political buck-passing

The imagery stuck because it perfectly describes tasks no one wants to hold onto.

XI. “Chasing Your Tail”: Animal Behavior Meets Human Futility

This modern idiom emerges in the 20th century from observing dogs spin in circles attempting to catch their own tails. By the mid-1900s, the metaphor applied to people caught in cycles of:

pointless activity
circular effort
wasted motion

It is humorous, but underneath lies a sense of exhaustion and futility.

XII. “Batted About”: The Universal Fate of Anything That Can Be Hit

This idiom appears in the 1600s–1700s, originally describing balls or objects knocked repeatedly in games or fights. But by the 18th century it was used to describe people “batted about” by:

events
arguments
authorities
responsibilities

It is perhaps the closest cousin to “from pillar to post,” capturing the physical sensation of being knocked repeatedly by forces stronger than oneself.

Conclusion: Why These Idioms Endure

Though they arose in wildly different surroundings—monastic tennis courts, medieval gambling tables, naval decks, farms, factories, railroads, and playgrounds—these expressions survive because they illustrate a shared human experience.

Each idiom is a miniature story about:

being overwhelmed
being scattered
being manipulated
being worked too hard
being in disorder
being helpless in motion
being pushed from place to place

Physical movement became our metaphor for emotional dislocation. And so these sayings, worn smooth by centuries of use, continue to describe the ancient human feeling of being swept along by life’s turbulence.

Commonly Misused Words

November 29, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI

The 20 Most Misused Words in America (A Humorous Survival Essay)

How to avoid sounding like the linguistic cousin of the guy who thinks “irregardless” is fancy.

English is a wonderful language: flexible, expressive, and filled with words that people misuse with confident enthusiasm. It’s a place where we “literally die” of laughter, eagerly “anticipate” things we merely expect, and describe a big building as an “enormity” (which, technically, makes it sound like the Pentagon is up to something sinister).

So, to help keep the nation’s vocabulary from sliding into the ocean, here are 20 of the most commonly abused words, each explained with a grin and a gentle nudge toward correctness.

1. Anticipate

People use it to mean expect.

Real meaning: to act in advance of something.

If you anticipate a snowstorm, you aren’t just waiting for it — you’re already buying milk and bread like the world is ending.

2. Literally

People use it for dramatic flair: “I literally exploded.”

If you literally exploded, we’d be having this conversation via séance.

3. Ironic

Used to mean “unfortunate coincidence.”

Actual meaning: the opposite of what you expect.

Rain on your wedding day? Coincidence.

The sprinkler system turning on indoors during your vows? Now we’re talking.

4. Bemused

People think it means “mildly amused.”

Actual meaning: confused.

Being bemused at a joke means you didn’t get it — not that you smiled politely while dying inside.

5. Enormity

Often used to mean “enormousness.”

Actual meaning: great evil or moral horror.

So saying “the enormity of Disney World” makes it sound like Mickey has declared martial law.

6. Peruse

Common misuse: “I just perused this magazine quickly.”

Real meaning: to read carefully.

If you “peruse” the IKEA manual, you may actually build the dresser correctly. But who wants that?

7. Nonplussed

People think it means unbothered.

Actual: so confused you don’t know what to do.

Your dog staring at a lemon? Nonplussed.

8. Refute

Often used as “argue against.”

Real meaning: prove false with evidence.

If you merely shout louder at Thanksgiving, that’s not refuting — that’s family.

9. Discrete

Common misuse of discreet.

Actual: separate, distinct things, not “low-key.”

Two discrete cookies are still two cookies — and both fair game.

10. Convince

People say “I convinced him to do it.”

Actual: convince = belief; persuade = action.

You convince him that skydiving is safe; you persuade him to jump.

11. Anxious

Many use it as “excited.”

Actual meaning: worried or uneasy.

So saying “I’m anxious to see Grandma” could mean you’re expecting her to bring the fruitcake again.

12. Ultimate

Used as “the best.”

Actual meaning: final.

“The ultimate pancake” isn’t the best pancake — it’s the last pancake before the apocalypse.

13. Penultimate

Used to mean “the absolute best.”

Actual meaning: second to last.

Calling something the “penultimate concert of the tour” does not mean Beyoncé reached peak Beyoncé.

14. Irregardless

A double negative.

Real word? Yes, technically.

Should you use it? No — unless you enjoy people judging you silently.

15. Factoid

People think it means “fun fact.”

Actual meaning: a false or dubious fact repeated often.

So calling something a “fun factoid” is essentially labeling it “a cheerful lie.”

16. Acute

Used as “serious.”

Actual: sharp or sudden (short duration).

A problem that lasts two decades is not acute — it’s your homeowners’ association.

17. Historic / Historical

Misused interchangeably.

Historic = important.

Historical = anything from the past.

Your grandmother’s cookie tin? Historical.

Your grandmother’s cookie tin thrown at a burglar? Historic.

18. Fewer / Less

Confused constantly.

Fewer = things you count.

Less = mass.

“Less cookies” is wrong — unless you’re already depressed about it.

19. Continual / Continuous

Continual = repeated with breaks.

Continuous = no breaks.

If your neighbor’s dog barks all night, that’s continuous.

If it stops only to eat, that’s continual — and somehow worse.

20. Uninterested / Disinterested

Uninterested = bored.

Disinterested = impartial.

A judge must be disinterested.

A teenager listening to your life advice will be uninterested.

Closing: The Secret of Good English

The beauty of all this?

Even the sharpest word nerds misuse a term now and then. English is gloriously messy, gloriously inconsistent, and gloriously fun to poke at — like a house cat that knocks your books off the table for sport.

But if you dodge these twenty traps, you’ll speak with clarity, confidence, and maybe even a hint of smugness — used in its correct sense, of course.p

Cost Allocation Methodologies and Why the Reciprocal (Simultaneous Equations) Method is Superior

November 28, 2025.Reading time 13 minutes.

A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI

It was my last semester in the Business School at UNT. I majored in Accounting, but my true love was Cost Accounting. I was the only student at the time to have taken three courses in the subject as they phased out one course and substituted another. I had become intrigued with Fortran a few semesters earlier. Then I was introduced to the use of simultaneous equations for cost allocations. We had to hand calculate the math; therefore, the number of departments was unrealistically small. Professor Nelson would bring his loud but amusing “peanut thrasher,” like the one below, to show us the arithmetic behind the linear algebra equations. Remember, this was 1971 and the first electronic calculators were just being introduced.

After graduation, I started at Garland as the first Budget Director there. Early in my 5-year tenure, my interest turned to a cost allocation study conducted by one of the then-Big 8 accounting firms: Ernst & Ernst. All I had was a hard copy, but the firm had done a decent job of explaining the step-down methodology for allocating indirect costs to direct service departments. I married my Fortran skills to my cost accounting love and reproduced every number in the report, including all internal calculations that weren’t fully shown in the report.

A few years later, when I had a consulting firm of my own, cost allocation plans were the hot ticket. Guiding my staff, we produced an example of cost allocation using simultaneous equations, leveraging features built into Lotus 1-2-3. We even met with HUD in Fort Worth to demonstrate and to get approval to use that methodology.

Excel has improved features to conduct allocations using simultaneous equations. This paper is to provide both examples and an actual Excel spreadsheet to illustrate this approach.

Introduction

Every public organization depends on a set of indirect (support) departments to keep operations running: Finance, HR, IT, Procurement, Central Services, Legal, Facilities, Fleet, and more. Yet the costs of these support functions do not exist for their own sake—they exist because frontline departments depend on them to deliver police protection, fire response, public works operations, community services, transit, parks, library services, public health, and housing.

For budgeting, grant reimbursement, user fees, performance management, and internal accountability, cities must determine how much of each support department’s cost should be assigned to the frontline operating units.

This process is known as cost allocation.

Over time, several methodologies have evolved—from the simple and intuitive to the complex but mathematically precise. This essay summarizes those methods, shows why they differ, and explains why the reciprocal (simultaneous equations) method is the single most accurate approach for modern governments—particularly now that Excel and AI make it practical for any city.

⭐ I. Comparative Overview of Cost Allocation Methods

1. Direct Allocation Method

The simplest method assigns each indirect cost pool to direct departments usually based only on one driver (e.g., HR allocated by FTEs).
Strength: Easy and transparent.
Weakness: Ignores the fact that indirect departments often support each other.

Example problem:

HR supports IT
IT supports HR
Direct step-down allocation ignores this two-way relationship.

2. Single Step-Down Method

This sequential method assigns indirect departments in a fixed order:

Choose an indirect department (like Finance).
Allocate its cost to all departments (including other indirects).
“Close” Finance.
Move to the next indirect department.

Strength:

Still simple and widely used.

Weakness:

The order of allocation matters.
Ignores most reciprocal support.
Can distort results significantly.
Can be scrutinized by external organizations like Wholesale Water Customers or Customer Cities like Transit Agencies.

3. Double Step-Down Method

A refinement to capture stronger two-way interaction between the first two indirect departments before the regular single step-down sequence.

Strength:

Captures limited reciprocal flows.
Still Excel-friendly.

Weakness:

Only partially improves accuracy.
Still depends heavily on order.

4. Multiple Iteration Method (Iterative Step-Down)

Run the step-down sequence many times until changes become small.

Strength:

Approximates reciprocal flows more closely.

Weakness:

Still an approximation.
Not guaranteed to converge.
Harder to audit.
Still not exact.

⭐ II. The Reciprocal (Simultaneous Equations) Method

The reciprocal method recognizes the full truth: indirect departments support each other in complex, circular ways.

Examples:

IT supports Finance, but Finance supports IT.
Facilities supports every department, including those that support Facilities.
Administration supports Legal, Legal supports Administration.

These interactions create a system of simultaneous linear equations.

Traditionally, this method required advanced math or expensive software. Today, Excel’s MINVERSE() and MMULT() functions, combined with transparent model structure, make the reciprocal method practical and accessible. Hint: don’t worry about higher mathematics too much at this point. Remember that Excel is going to take care of all that work for us.

Definition:

$A \cdot X = B$ Where:

A = reciprocal system matrix = (Identity – Wssᵀ)
X = fully loaded indirect cost vector
B = initial indirect budgets

Solution: $X = (A^{-1}) B$ X=(A−1)B

This produces the exact full cost of each indirect department after capturing all circular support flows.

⭐ III. Federal Recognition & Regulatory Alignment

Federal agencies have long endorsed this approach.

OMB Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200)

Defines indirect costs and requires that they be allocated based on:

“relative benefits received.”
— 2 CFR 200.405(d)

The reciprocal method is the only method that fully meets this standard when indirect departments support each other.

ASMB C-10 (HHS Implementation Guide)

States that the cost allocation principles include:

“…guidance for interpretation and implementation…”
— ASMB C-10, Preface

The examples illustrate precisely the type of reciprocal circularity the method captures.

Consulting Industry

Large national firms implementing federal cost plans (e.g., Maximus, MGT, Guidehouse, Plante Moran, BerryDunn) have used reciprocal methods for:

Statewide cost allocation plans (SWCAP)
Department-level indirect cost plans
Federal indirect rate proposals
Research F&A rate determination
Public safety overhead models
Public works cost-of-service studies

The reciprocal method is the recognized gold standard.

⭐ IV. Why the Reciprocal Method Is Superior

✔ 1. Accurate

Captures all reciprocal flows between indirect departments.

✔ 2. Order-independent

Step-down methods depend on sequencing.
Reciprocal method always returns the same answer.

✔ 3. Auditable

Every stage is transparent and traceable:

raw drivers
normalized weights
allocation matrices
fully loaded indirects
final allocations

✔ 4. Complies with Federal Standards

Directly aligns with “relative benefits received.”

✔ 5. Excel now makes it easy

One formula computes the X vector:

=MMULT(MINVERSE(A), B)

✔ 6. AI eliminates complexity

AI can:

Build matrices
Check formulas
Validate sums
Ensure consistency
Explain model steps

This allows smaller governments to use the same rigor once reserved for big agencies.

⭐ V. How This Model Is Built — A Practical Walkthrough

Your accompanying spreadsheet (now fully dynamic) uses the exact full reciprocal process in 10 clear, auditable steps, each mapped to a tab.

Below is the Technical Appendix rewritten to match those tabs exactly.

⭐ TECHNICAL APPENDIX — TAB-BY-TAB GUIDE TO THE MODEL

This Appendix mirrors the spreadsheet structure so users can follow the math end-to-end.

📘 Step 0 — Raw Metrics (Scaled)

Input tab.

Contains operational drivers:

FTEs
Devices
Budget (scaled to $10M total for interpretability)
SqFt
Vehicles
Procurement counts
Legal hours
Records
Risk claims

These raw values determine how indirect departments distribute their services across the full organization.

📘 Step 1 — Initial Budgets

Financial inputs only.

$2,000,000 indirect
$8,000,000 direct
$10,000,000 total (model base)

These do not equal Step 0 totals.
Step 0 contains drivers, some of which might be financial budgets or components of same.

📘 Step 2 — Drivers_Norm

Dynamic calculations.

For each indirect department:

Identify driver (Budget, FTEs, Devices, etc.)
Normalize each department’s driver value by the total driver column
Each row sums to 1.0

These normalized weights feed the W matrix. Normalization means taking the raw driver numbers—like FTEs, devices, or square footage—and expressing each one as part of the whole. Each department’s value becomes its percentage share of the total.

📘 Step 3 — W Matrix

Dynamic.

The full allocation matrix:

Rows = indirect departments
Columns = all departments
Values = proportions from Step 2
Row sums = 1.0

This matrix determines how indirect departments allocate their costs.

📘 Step 4 — Wss (Indirect→Indirect)

Dynamic.

Extracts the top-left 13×13 block of W:

Shows reciprocal flows between indirect departments
Inputs to the reciprocal system matrix A

📘 Step 5 — A Matrix

Dynamic. $A = I – Wss^{T}$ A=I−WssT

Where:

I = identity matrix
Wssᵀ = transpose of indirect block

Diagonal entries show remaining self-load.
Off-diagonals show cross-support.

📘 Step 6 — B Vector

Dynamic.

Pulls the initial indirect budgets from Step 1.

This is the starting point for the reciprocal solution.

📘 Step 7 — X Vector

Dynamic and computed via Excel matrix algebra. $X = A^{-1} B$ X=A−1B

These are the fully loaded indirect costs after accounting for:

mutual support
circular relationships
internal cost absorption

Sum(X) ≈ Sum(B).

📘 Step 8 — Allocation to Direct Departments

Dynamic allocation of fully loaded indirects.

Uses the formula: $\text{Allocated}_{i \to j} = X_i \cdot W_{i,j}$ Allocatedi→j=Xi⋅Wi,j

Where:

i = indirect dept
j = direct dept

This produces the overhead assigned to each operating unit.

Final columns:

Total Indirect
Full Cost = Direct Budget + Indirect Assigned

📘 Step 9 — Summary (Full Cost)

Dynamic.

Shows for each direct department:

Direct Budget
Indirect Allocated
Full Cost
Percent Increase
Percent of Total

Full costs sum to $10,000,000.

📘 Step 10 — Totals Check

Dynamic validation.

Shows:

Total Before = $10,000,000
Total After = $10,000,000
Difference = 0

Confirms mathematical integrity.

This demonstrates:

No cost drift
No rounding loss
No double-counting
Reciprocal method implemented correctly

⭐ Conclusion

Thanks to the maturity of spreadsheet functions and the availability of AI-driven guidance, the reciprocal method—once limited to large consulting firms and federal cost plans—is now achievable for any city with Excel.

This model provides:

Accuracy
Transparency
Regulatory alignment
Audit readiness
Dynamic recalculation
Clear documentation

It ensures that each department’s cost truly reflects the full resources required to serve the public.

COMPLETE_10M_Reciprocal_Model Download

Permission is granted for you to share this model with any other governmental entity, with attribution, please.

Giving Thanks: A Biblical Theology of Gratitude

November 27, 2025.Reading time 12 minutes.

A collaboration between Lewis McLain & AI

Thanksgiving is more than a polite gesture in Scripture—it is a spiritual practice rooted in truth, memory, and worship. Gratitude pulls the believer’s heart away from fear and entitlement and redirects it toward trust, humility, and joy. It is one of Scripture’s most repeated teachings because it shapes the soul. Through thanksgiving, we learn to see God’s hand in our lives, remember His faithfulness, and live with open eyes and open hearts. These ten biblical groupings reveal a complete and interconnected theology of gratitude, showing why thanksgiving is essential for the Christian life.

1. Direct Commands to Give Thanks

The Bible does not treat thanksgiving as optional. It is commanded repeatedly because gratitude is a safeguard for the soul—it breaks pride, counters anxiety, renews memory, and keeps the heart anchored in God’s goodness. God commands thanksgiving not because He needs praise, but because we need the spiritual clarity that thanksgiving produces.

Key Scriptures:

1 Thessalonians 5:18 — “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Psalm 107:1 — “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
Psalm 136:1 — “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.”
Colossians 3:15–17 — “Be thankful…with gratitude in your hearts…giving thanks to God the Father.”

Thanksgiving here is obedience shaped by trust.

2. Thanksgiving as Worship

Thanksgiving is not separate from worship—it is the doorway into it. In Scripture, gratitude is how the Believer approaches God. It is how we acknowledge His greatness and His character before asking for anything else. Thanksgiving reminds us of who God is, long before we focus on what we need.

Key Scriptures:

Psalm 100:4 — “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.”
Psalm 95:2 — “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”
Hebrews 13:15 — “Let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise.”

Thanksgiving becomes the worshiper’s first act of reverence.

3. Examples of Thankfulness in Action

Scripture gives concrete stories showing gratitude practiced in real life: under pressure, in danger, during scarcity, after healing, and before miracles. These examples reveal that thanksgiving is not dependent on circumstances but grows out of faith, memory, and relationship with God.

Key Scriptures:

Daniel 6:10 — Daniel “gave thanks to his God” though it might cost him his life.
Luke 17:15–16 — One healed leper returned to thank Jesus—gratitude sets him apart.
John 6:11 — Jesus gives thanks before the loaves multiply, teaching that gratitude comes before abundance.
Acts 27:35 — Paul gives thanks publicly during a storm to strengthen others.

These examples show thanksgiving is a testimony—seen, heard, and influential.

4. Thanksgiving for God’s Works and Deliverance

Thanksgiving in Scripture is deeply tied to remembrance—remembering rescue, answered prayer, protection, healing, and God’s hand in crisis. Gratitude becomes the believer’s way of proclaiming what God has done.

Key Scriptures:

Psalm 118:21 — “I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.”
Psalm 30:12 — “I will give you thanks forever.”
Psalm 34:1 — “His praise will always be on my lips.”
Revelation 11:17 — “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,” for His victories.

Thanksgiving becomes memory turned into worship.

5. Thanksgiving and Prayer

Prayer and thanksgiving are inseparable in Scripture. Gratitude in prayer shifts the heart from fear to trust, from restlessness to peace. Thanksgiving acknowledges God’s past faithfulness as the foundation for today’s requests.

Key Scriptures:

Philippians 4:6 — Present your requests “with thanksgiving.”
Colossians 4:2 — “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
Ephesians 5:20 — “Always giving thanks…for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Thanksgiving deepens prayer by transforming it from a list into a relationship.

6. Thanksgiving for Salvation and Redemption

At the center of Christian gratitude stands the cross. Scripture repeatedly links thanksgiving to the saving work of Christ—victory over sin, death, and bondage. Every spiritual blessing, every promise, every hope flows from this gift.

Key Scriptures:

2 Corinthians 9:15 — “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
1 Corinthians 15:57 — “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 6:17 — “Thanks be to God” that believers are freed from sin.

Thanksgiving is the ongoing response to the Gospel.

7. Thanksgiving as a Mark of a Renewed Life

Gratitude is not merely something Christians do—it is something God forms in us. Scripture shows that a thankful heart is evidence of spiritual maturity, spiritual memory, and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

Key Scriptures:

Colossians 2:6–7 — Those rooted in Christ “overflow with thankfulness.”
Psalm 103:1–2 — “Forget not all his benefits.”
1 Chronicles 16:34 — “Give thanks…for his love endures forever.”

Thankfulness reveals a soul awakened by grace.

8. Thanksgiving in the Psalms — Hymns of the Heart

The Psalms give us the Bible’s most beautiful language of thanksgiving. They model gratitude that is poetic, passionate, honest, and overflowing. The Psalms teach us that thanksgiving is not rigid—sometimes it is quiet and reflective; other times it is loud and exuberant.

Key Scriptures (each now explicitly included):

Psalm 9:1 — “I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart.”
Psalm 28:7 — “My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”
Psalm 92:1 — “It is good to give thanks to the LORD.”
Psalm 69:30 — “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.”

The Psalms teach us how to pray, sing, and feel our gratitude.

9. Thanksgiving in Community Worship

Thanksgiving is most powerful when the people of God do it together. Corporate gratitude strengthens unity, lifts weary hearts, and testifies to God’s faithfulness across generations. Scripture repeatedly shows the people gathered in unified thanksgiving during moments of rebuilding, dedication, victory, and revival.

Key Scriptures:

Ezra 3:11 — “With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD.”
Nehemiah 12:27 — The dedication of Jerusalem’s wall included choirs and songs of thanksgiving.
2 Chronicles 5:13 — Unified thanksgiving filled the temple with God’s glory.

Gratitude becomes contagious when the people of God raise their voices together.

10. Warning About the Absence of Thankfulness

The Bible does not only encourage gratitude—it warns against its absence. Ingratitude leads to spiritual dullness, forgetfulness, entitlement, and eventually rebellion. A thankless heart loses sight of God.

Key Scriptures:

Romans 1:21 — They “neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks”—and their hearts darkened.
2 Timothy 3:2 — “Ungrateful” is listed among serious end-times sins.

Where thanksgiving fades, spiritual decline begins.

Reflection Questions

What blessings am I overlooking or rushing past today?
How can Thanksgiving become the first step of my worship each day?
Which biblical example of thanksgiving most challenges me?
What deliverances in my life deserve renewed thanks?
What would change in my prayer life if thanksgiving came first?
How does Christ’s salvation inspire gratitude in me right now?
Where has thanklessness crept into my thinking or habits?
Which Psalm best expresses my current gratitude?
How can I strengthen others through shared thanksgiving?
What spiritual danger might ingratitude be creating in my heart?

Closing Prayer

Father, we give You thanks.
You are good, and Your love endures forever.
Teach our hearts to remember Your mercies,
to see Your hand at work,
to recognize Your gifts,
to trust Your purposes,
and to praise You in all circumstances.
Forgive us for forgetfulness, for worry, and for ingratitude.
Form in us a spirit that overflows with thanksgiving—
in worship, in prayer, in suffering, and in joy.
May our gratitude reflect the grace of Christ
and become a light to those around us.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Post-Note — A Personal Thanksgiving Message

From Lewis

To all of you—my clients, friends, family members, neighbors, mentors, and church family—I want to offer a heartfelt word of thanks.

To my clients:
Thank you for your trust, your collaboration, your patience, and your willingness to let me walk beside you through complex decisions and meaningful work. Your confidence honors me, and your dedication strengthens me. Working with you is a privilege I do not take lightly.

To my friends:
Your loyalty, humor, encouragement, and companionship have carried me through seasons both light and heavy. Thank you for bringing joy into ordinary days and wisdom into difficult ones. Life is richer because of your presence.

To my family:
Thank you for love that never quits, for understanding when life gets busy, for prayers whispered on my behalf, and for believing in me even on the days I do not believe in myself. You are God’s greatest earthly blessing to me. Special thanks to Linda, the love of my life, for standing with me for almost 60 years.

To my neighbors:
Thank you for kindness, shared community, watchful care, and genuine friendship across fences, streets, and sidewalks. A neighborhood becomes a family because of people like you.

To my church family:
Thank you for prayers, for meals, for conversations, for fellowship, for spiritual guidance, and for walking this journey of faith alongside me. Your encouragement strengthens my soul; your faith inspires mine.

To all of you together:
Thank you for the grace, guidance, blessings, loyalty, and love you have poured into my life. I see the fingerprints of God in every interaction. I thank Him for you—and I thank you for being who you are.