Love Is Forgetting Yourself
In compassion
Last Christmas, Maureen Down printed a guest column for her at the New York Times, from a close friend, Father Kevin, a priest who seems to work wonders with the dying and the suffering—even though he’s honest about his own human reluctance to enter into the suffering of others. She said that once Father Kevin…Read More
We Could Be Heroes . . .
In altruism
As a follow-up to a previous post about The Hero Report, I did a brief interview with Ari Kohen and Matt Langdon, about their study of and advocacy for heroism. When I came across their work that examines and promotes heroism in ordinary lives, it seemed both unusual but also one of those instances when…Read More
At the Sundance this year, my wife and I were fascinated by many of the new films on view, but one of the ones that impressed me, and many others, the most was Blood Brother. It was filmed by Steve Hoover, and it’s about one of his best friends, Rocky Braat. Rocky had a rough…Read More
There’s a growing body of opinion in science that evolution, at least at the cultural level, has been driven, in part, by empathy and qualities normally associated with altruism. Down through history, when hunter-gatherer societies and tribes achieved a certain level of density and population, cooperative behavior became more than a competitive advantage. It became…Read More
If you want confirmation that goodness can be an inherent part of human nature, Daniel Tomasulo wrote a great account of generosity in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. He was in Washington, D.C. when the hurricane struck. As he pulled off the Garden State Parkway and arrived at his shoreline home, he wondered if he’d…Read More
