The Confederacy Of The Humbled

As we age, and realize life doesn’t always turn the way wish it, that randomness and luck are hidden handmaidens of our own fates, our intentional small kindnesses become more defining

DES MOINES

Even those who have watched “Casablanca” dozens of times, who have committed secondary lines to easily recited memory, probably didn’t catch a seemingly throwaway gesture.

Amid the wartime chaos in Rick’s Cafe, the boozing, brooding Humphrey Bogart spots a tipped cocktail glass. He calmly adjusts it upright, a small act to defy the madness.

And …