Tag: mental-health
-
The Radio Link and the Soul: What Forty-Seven Years in Rural Infrastructure Have Taught Me About Work, Technology, Life, and Faith
I remember standing out at a metering station back in 2007, somewhere off a caliche road you wouldn’t find unless you already knew where you were going. East Texas co-op site. Quiet place. The kind where you can hear the wind before you see it. That radio link we were depending on had been put…
-
How to Stay Informed Without Losing Your Peace
In today’s fast-paced information environment, the urgency of news can overwhelm clarity and peace. While global issues demand attention, individuals should focus their energies on manageable responsibilities, such as community and integrity. By limiting news intake and prioritizing facts over emotional narratives, one can cultivate a sense of stability and informed citizenship.
-
What I Do and Why
The author reflects on a career dedicated to infrastructure design and community service, particularly in broadband expansion for underserved rural areas. Guided by the profound grief of losing their son, Joshua, at eighteen, the author aims to channel love and compassion into helping others. This journey emphasizes the significance of presence, community, and honoring lost…
-
Using Spark Leadership to Avoid Dysfunction and Burnout
Spark leadership must be used as a regulating system, not a call to do more.
-
Showing Up When the Work Is Quiet
There is a particular kind of weight that comes with leadership in a small rural community. It is not loud or dramatic. It does not announce itself. It settles in quietly and stays. You carry it when you unlock buildings early in the morning, when you answer questions no one else has time to answer,…
-
The Long Road Between Pain and Peace
Life moves like that song from Bosch—slow, deliberate, a little haunted, and honest enough not to pretend things are fine when they aren’t. You wake up carrying yesterday with you. Some memories refuse to loosen their grip. Loss. Regret. Questions that never quite resolve. You learn early that life does not hand out clean endings,…
-
Carrying Weight, Seeking Light
Carrying Weight, Seeking Light Over the past several weeks, I’ve noticed a pattern rising in my heart—a mix of heaviness and hope, grief and gratitude, pressure and purpose. The holiday season always magnifies what is present in the soul, and this year is no different. I find myself remembering the people who shaped me, the…
-
What I Would Tell You Now
For Joshua Blake Hargrove from John Hagrove his dad June 2025 1984–2002 My son, If I could sit across from you today—twenty-three years after you left this world—I would begin with the words that still rise unbidden in my heart: I miss you. Every day. Not with the same sharp ache as before, but with…
-
Protecting Our Young People from Modern Extremism
The 764 network represents a critical threat to young people and has recently been classified by federal law enforcement as ‘modern-day terrorism.’ This briefing provides essential information for protecting the vulnerable youth in our communities, with particular sensitivity to the experiences of those in recovery or rebuilding their lives.
-
Keeping Going When No One’s Listening?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to do work that matters when it feels like no one cares. For the past few years, I’ve been advocating for rural East Texas communities—places like Buna, Newton, San Augustine. I’ve built communication frameworks, written strategic plans, installed digital kiosks, organized meetings, drafted policy briefs.…
John Hargrove Seeking Truth and Reality 