PEBBLE
The way we are, we are members of each other. All of us. Everything. The difference ain’t in who is a member and who is not, but in who knows it and who don’t.
-Wendell Berry, shared by Leslie in Madison, WI
BOULDER
You can survive on your own.
You can grow strong on your own.
You can even prevail on your own.
But you cannot become human on your own.
~Frederick Buchner, shared by Scott in Connecticut
PONDER
As those of us here in the U.S. prepare to recognize our 250th Independence Day this week, I thought I’d share a couple of ripply ways to celebrate if you so choose.
An impressively bipartisan organization called America 250 has been hard at work planning a number of efforts to bring folks together in new ways, including a charitable giving challenge called Giving 4th and coordinating block parties across the country.
The United States of Kindness is a national campaign inviting us to complete 250 acts of kindness in 2026. They’ve compiled tons of creative ideas for what kindness might look like, and even made a fun tracker sheet that you can fill in as you individually or collectively complete your tasks.
If we consider that modern humans have been around for about 300,000 years, with the first states/governments appearing around 5,000 years ago, the United States is still in its infancy or maybe early adolescence in terms of figuring out who we are and who we want to be. I think it’s reasonable to say we’ve made some remarkable contributions to humanity, even while there is still plenty of work required for us to be drawn closer to what Lincoln referred to as the better angels of our nature.
And if it’s true that we’re still a relatively young experiment, maybe that’s one more reason to reawaken the curious minds, open hearts, and calm spirits we first assembled back in the Time of Covidia, as we work to nurture our health not just invidiually but also collectively. I believed it back then, and I believe it today: we’re members of each other, and we’re stronger when we remember it. We got this.
Peace,
Paul