The greatest saints in the world

Every once in a while, I meet a person who radiates joy. These are people who seem to glow with an inner light. They are kind, tranquil, delighted by small pleasures, and grateful for the large ones. These people are not perfect. They get exhausted and stressed. They make errors in judgment. But they live for others, and not for themselves. They’ve... See more

If there is a fundamental challenge within these stories, it is simply to change our lurking suspicion that some lives matter less than other lives. William Blake wrote, “We are put on earth for a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love.” Turns out this is what we all have in common, gang member and nongang member alike: we’re ju

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When a student asks Butler what the answer is to ending the suffering in the world, she replies, “...there’s no single answer that will solve all of our future problems. There’s no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers–at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be.”

Most people – maybe more than you think – are peace- and love-seeking creatures who are sometimes caught in bad situations. The most practical thing you can do, even in hard times, is to lead with curiosity, lead with respect, work hard to understand the people you might be taught to detest.

“That means seeing people with generous eyes, offering tr... See more

How do I keep going?

Do as Mister Rogers says and look for the helpers: organizers, the kind cashier at Trader Joe’s who seems to genuinely mean it when they ask “how are you?”, teachers, your therapist, dear friends, the garbage truck driver who, without fail, will honk extra when he notices your daughter watching him with total glee as he collects... See more