One of philosophy’s charms for me is the opportunity to think, as if for the first time, about the meaning of ideas essential to good living. What is good living? What is persistence? What is possibility? What is belonging? What is empathy? This constant reexamination widens our perspective and guards against our falling into the trap of stale assumptions and preconceptions. I can think of no idea that begs for rethinking more than the concept of success. What is it?
Read MoreMy friend and neighbor Blue O’Connell loves music, animals, nature (especially trees), and friends. A few years ago, she traded a job with financial benefits for one with other kinds of perks: writing and playing music at schools, nursing homes, hospitals, parties, just about any place. She patches jobs together to make ends meet. Recently Blue bought happiness for herself and for countless others by giving a valuable possession away.
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We sit together. Jane Fonda and JB Pritzger deliver joint addresses for everyone everywhere. Their grasp of this dangerous moment and their abilities to communicate it—their mutual belief in the power of kindness and empathy to both endure and defeat tyranny. Fonda: “We are in our documentary moment. It is not a rehearsal…. So let’s be brave.” Pritzger: “The root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed…. Seeds of Nazis started with everyday Germans looking for someone to blame.”