Wit & Wisdom with Tom Greene

Young men are seemingly failing to launch. Spending time gambling on line, watching porn and failing to get out from underneath their parent's protection. Is this a lack of motivation? Is it a laziness? I don't think so. I think it's something totally different but you'll have to listen to find out.

All across the US, anxious high school students are watching their emails and busily refreshing their browsers waiting to hear about college acceptances. It's that time in life where seemingly everything is dependent on a few strangers making a decision in your favor. But what if all of that angst is overblown? What if getting into the right school and getting great grades really isn't the key to success? Could all this angst be a waste of time? Listen to find out.

Wisdom used to be something we expected to grow in to, something we earned through years of trails and errors--years of confusion and uncertainty. We still respect wisdom today, but have we grown too impatient to pursue it ourselves?

As we get on in age, we often tend to spend time thinking about legacy. About what things we leave behind for others. But that's not the right way to think about legacy. We shouldn't be thinking about the stuff that matters to us. We should be thinking about the traits we pass on. The ones that tend to live on long after we are pushing up daises.

Today's conversation started with a simple observation during an ordinary drive. It made me think about how we handle mistakes, detours and the quiet adjustments we are forced to make in life. Those adjustments that often and color and richness to our lives.

The older I get the more I realize that wisdom and growth isn't always about adding. It's about subtracting; letting go. Because the life you envisioned isn't always the life you actually want.

If you're reading this summary then you likely survived dry January. The time when 1/3 of Americans give up booze for 30 days. Or at least try. It's a nice idea and your liver needs it. Alcohol consumption is down in the US already, way down. But what are the unforeseen consequences of all this sobriety. You'll have to listen to find out.

The loudest voices, the angriest voices, seem to have taken over the stage. We are naturally empathetic people but only to a point. We used to be able to have a conversation and disagree without being disagreeable. We could have empathy and still disagree. Today empathy is hijacked by movements and you either agree on you're wrong and immoral. How did we get here?

Parents today have pulled out all the stops for this kids. During a period of unprecedented prosperity today's kids have enjoyed the finest schools, clothes, neighborhoods, cars, etc. All in an effort to give kids the good life. But what if all we were doing was setting the kids up for disappointment later in life when the real world started for them?

We are told constantly that the world is cruel, people are selfish and civility is a relic of a bygone era. Maybe I'm old school but I think that's BS. There are tons of signs that civility is alive and kicking. You'll have to listen to learn why.

This generation came of age during the most prosperous time in human history. Parents provided their kids with every advantage and allowed them to sample the good life. It came with the message of study hard, stay out of trouble, get into a good college and all your wildest dreams will come true. Now as that generation enters the real world, they're finding out how misleading that dreamy sales pitch really was. Like an all-inclusive vacation where the glossy brochure totally oversold the promise of the good life.

It's that time of year. The time when we look back at 2025 and figure out which podcasts you liked the most. There were three winners in 2025 that got you really fired up. Jump in and enjoy this "best of 2025" episode of Wit & Wisdom.

Nobody wants to suffer at the end of their life, especially me. But is Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) the solution? Last year 60K people voluntarily ended their life in Canada. That seems like an awful lot to me. A number of US states are following the lead. Several now have laws that allow for your doctor to end your life. This is a tough subject but one that deserves a lot of debate and discernment.

Twenty five years ago Robert Putnam noticed something odd. More people were bowling, but fewer people were bowling in group leagues. But, why? The answer has to do with a gigantic sociological shift towards aloneness. And that was before the pandemic, work from home, videoconferencing, the iPhone and the Peloton. It's crazy how far ahead of his time he was. And now 25 years later he's looking like a modern-day Nostradamus.