Month: February 2024

When my father died our home filled with visitors who came to comfort my mother. Most of them arrived with food for our family. Our kitchen filled with baked meats and casseroles that would sustain us for weeks to come. It was a time of community, generosity and love. As an eight year old child I was touched by the goodness of people who rallied to help my mother in her time of need. 

In the ensuing years I watched my mother performing works of mercy for others over and over again. In spite of having a very tight budget she somehow found the means to contribute to community efforts that brought succor to people who were sick or who had experienced loss. She and others that I knew gave generously to causes without hesitating for a moment. I suppose that such model behavior taught me how to share even beyond my family and neighbors. I realized how incredible it is to know that we are not alone as we endure life’s challenges. 

Recently I learned of a teacher friend of mine who has been bedridden since the beginning of the year. She is unable to sit or walk without intense pain so she not only has been unable to work, but she cannot take care of her household. A group of teachers at her school decided to create a “food train” to keep meals arriving at her home on a regular basis until she has recovered from the surgery that is scheduled to repair her spine. 

I grew up believing that we are a generous nation. My mother would boast with tears in her eyes that the United States of America helped to rebuild much of Europe after World War II with the Marshall Plan. Since then I have watched our country send aid all over the world in times of need. I’ve worked with students who were eager to create fundraisers to help people around the world that they would never meet. Often these same students were living in economic want themselves, but like my mother they found a way to share whatever good fortune they were able to scrape together. 

My maternal ancestors came from Slovakia in Eastern Europe. Their country borders with Ukraine and other nations that have historically been bandied about by more powerful countries and principalities. In the nineteen nineties when the former Soviet Union fell apart and walls were taken down my mother rejoiced because she had witnessed her father’s sorrow over the domination of Russia over smaller countries. She often remarked that her father would have been so happy to see democracy come to places that had been pawns for centuries. 

When Russia hosted the winter Olympic games a few years ago I remember feeling that Putin was telling us about his dream and that dream was like a nightmare to me. Somehow he was reveling in the days of old when Russia wielded its force over much of Eastern Europe including Slovakia and Ukraine. It was apparent that he longed for those times and was only biding his time until he found a way to unite the old Soviet nations once again. 

The moment finally came when Putin invaded Ukraine with the claim that much of the land and many of the people should rightfully be returned to Russia. In those early days there was a spontaneous rallying of European nations and the United Sates to help protect Ukraine from the outrageous invasion of their land. There was a unity of spirit with our NATO allies and a sense that the United States would help to supply funds and weapons to keep the defense of Ukraine alive. 

Now such honorable generosity has become mired in geopolitical intrigue and the Republican party in the House of Representatives seems determined to suspend all aid to Ukraine simply because Donald Trump is instructing them to do so. The absurd selfishness of their decision literally hurts my heart. They make lame excuses for their lack of humanity when it is apparent that they simply want a political cudgel to wave at those who insist that we must back Ukraine in its hour of need. 

I am a bonafide pacifist. I abhor war but I know that there have been moments in history when people and nations had to defend themselves. Just as we push back on an individual level when a bully attempts to harm us or someone we love, so too must we send the message that it is never right or just for a nation to invade another in a selfish grab of people and resources. The issues are understandably more complex than my simple analysis but we must always be wary of simply turning a blind eye to injustice or blatant mistreatment of people anywhere on earth. 

The world is on fire right now. These are very dangerous times. Our nation’s resources are being painfully stretched but simply leaving Ukraine to get by on its own will lead to even greater global problems and will send the message to our allies that we can’t be trusted to respond in times of need. This is an important turning point in history that will be judged as a blight on the United States it our country abandons Ukraine. It is not in our best interest to simply walk away. We no longer have the luxury of being isolated from harm by the two oceans that mark our shores. The butterfly flapping its wings now affects everyone in the world simultaneously. If we turn our backs on one of our allies we might expect to get no understanding or aid if we are attacked.

My hope is that the Republicans who are supposed to represent us in Washington D.C. will recognize the folly of their unwillingness to support Ukraine or to even attempt to solve any problems at all for that matter. Just as we should not ignore the difficulties of our families or neighbors or friends, it would be a travesty to put our heads in the sand to ignore the people in Ukraine fighting for freedom from domination by an authoritarian power. I hope that enough elected officials come to their senses to set things right. Ukraine will not be able to hold out until after our elections. I fear that they will fall if we do not help them now. I can’t think of how great a travesty and blot on our character as a nation it will be. The need is great and we have to help now or hang our heads in shame. 

I have never had a big problem with weight. I am larger than I was in my younger days when I might have been described as being skinny, but much smaller than many of my contemporaries. I remember a time when I was so thin that I felt unattractive. I had a difficult time finding clothes small enough to fit without looking as though they were limply dangling on a coat hanger. I actually celebrated when Twiggy came along and made my childlike figure popular. On the day that I married I was five foot six and one half inches tall and weighed eighty eight pounds. I did nothing special to be so svelte. It was just the way I was.  

After the birth of my first child my weight languished in the one hundred ten pound range. A second child sent me ramping up to one hundred twenty pounds where I stayed without any effort until my late forties. That’s when I finally had to take precautions with my eating and force myself to exercise more. Little by little my weight increased in small increments that added up and I began to understand those who struggled to keep the pounds from leading to obesity. I eventually learned how to stabilize and manage my weight so that I don’t tip the scales into a health danger zone. iI takes a bit more effort that I was accustomed to using for most of my life, but I can do it without feeling starved. 

My brothers and my husband have not been as fortunate to have bodies that seem to regulated themselves as well as mine does. Maintaining a healthy weight was a struggle for them as it is for many people. One brother told me that he was always hungry for most of his life. It was as though his brain constantly sent him signals that he needed more nourishment. He would think about food both day and night so curbing his consumption was a battle of wills. He said that he never felt full and sometimes even woke up in the middle of the night thinking that he needed to eat. Eventually he had surgery hoping to curb his appetite and suddenly he felt like I always have. He lost weight and kept it off. He finally ended those incessant feelings that he needed food when he should have been full. 

Recent studies have proven that my brother was not just making an excuse for his obesity. Researchers have indeed found that we have hormonal sensors in our brains that tell us when we have satisfied our need to eat. For some people this system does not work the way it should. Those souls have unusual cravings for food that literally haunt them all of the time. On the other end of the spectrum are people who get messages that they have eaten enough when they have not. Most of us are somewhere in the midrange that keeps us eating properly. 

Now in addition to weight loss surgery there are medications injected into the body on a weekly basis that essentially jump start the normal processes that tell us that we have had enough to eat. People using those drugs report that they feel normal for the first time. Food is no longer an obsession for them. They lose the excess pounds and then stay in a healthy range like I have been able to do. For them it feels as though a miracle has happened. Every aspect of their health is better. Blood sugar levels and blood pressure readings go down. They have more energy and feel younger. They look better and feel confident. 

We have had a tendency in our society to blame obesity on laziness and gluttony when now we are learning that in many ways the urge to overeat occurs because of a faulty mechanism that is supposed to curb appetites. It seems that some of us have the good fortune to remain at healthy weights mostly because our bodies are working just as they should, not because we are somehow better than our heavy counterparts. We take feeling full for granted when the evidence is now showing that the mechanism for insuring that response does not always work as well as it should. 

The American Medical Association is excited about the implications of the weight loss drugs that are proving to be a panacea for people who have struggled to feel normal for years. They are literally urging insurance companies and even Medicare and Medicaid to cover these drugs. They insist that the effects of weight loss that such medications produce will revolutionize our healthcare system. In fact, there are even beliefs that they may work for people with other addictions as well. 

We have all known people who can consume food with the most voracious eaters and never gain a pound. I used to be that way and my father-in-law still is. He is as thin as a rail and yet he is able to consume more food than either my husband or I do in a single day. He eats a very large breakfast each morning and then consumes lunch and snacks until the evening when he enjoys crackers and cheese with his daily intake of wine followed by the same dinner that we all eat. He follows his last meal of the day with cookies or candy or ice cream and yet he stays incredibly thin. I maintain a reasonable albeit more average weight while my husband is much heavier than either of us. If I were to quantify each person’s consumption of food I would have to say that my father-in-law eats the most, my husband is slightly behind him and I definitely eat less than either of them. Because I purchase and dispense the food I know what each of us consume. We are indeed a study in how different bodies react to very similar amounts of food. 

I appreciate that researc

I have never had a big problem with weight. I am larger than I was in my younger days when I might have been described as being skinny, but much smaller than many of my contemporaries. I remember a time when I was so thin that I felt unattractive. I had a difficult time find clothes small enough to fit without looking as though they were limply dangling on a coat hanger. I actually celebrated when Twiggy came along and made my childlike figure popular. On the day that I married I was five foot six and one half inches and weighed eighty eight pounds. I did nothing special to be so svelte. It was just the way I was.  

After the birth of my first child my weight languished in the one hundred ten pound range. A second child sent me ramping up to one hundred pounds where I stayed without any effort until my late forties. that’s when I finally had to take precautions with my eating and force myself to exercise more. Little by little my weight increased in larger and larger increments and I began to understand those who struggled to keep the pounds from leading to obesity. I eventually learned how to stabilize and manage my weight so that I don’t tip the scales into a health danger zone. it takes a bit more effort that I was accustomed to using for most of my life. 

My brothers and my husband have not been as fortunate to have bodies that seemed to regulated themselves as well as mine did. Maintaining a healthy weight was a struggle for them as it is for most people. One brother told me that he was always hungry. it was as though his brain constantly sent him signals that he needed more nourishment. He would think about food both day and night so curbing his consumption was a true battle of wills. Eventually he had surgery hoping to curb his appetite and suddenly he felt like I always have. He lost weight and kept it off. He finally sated those feelings that he needed food when he should have been full. 

Recent studies have proven that my brother was not just making an excuse for his obesity. Researchers have indeed found that we have hormonal sensors in our brains that tell us when we have satisfied our urges to eat. For some people this system does not work the way it should. Those souls have unusual cravings for food that literally haunt them all of the time. On the other end of the spectrum are people who get messages that they have eaten enough when they have not. Most of us are somewhere in the midrange that keeps us eating properly. 

Now in addition to weight loss surgery there are medications injected into the body on a weekly basis that essentially jump start the normal processes that tell us that we have had enough to eat. People using those drugs report that they feel normal for the first time. Food is no longer an obsession for them. They lose the excess pounds and then stay in a healthy range like I have been able to do. For them it feels as though a miracle has happened. Every aspect of their health is better. Blood sugar levels and blood pressure readings go down. They have more energy and feel younger. They look better and feel confident. 

We have had a tendency in our society to blame obesity on laziness and gluttony when now we are learning that in many ways the urge to overeat occurs because of a faulty mechanism for curbing appetites. It seems that some of us have the good fortune to remain at healthy weights mostly because our bodies are working just as they should, not because we are somehow better than our heavy counterparts. We take feeling full for granted when the evidence is now showing that the mechanism for insuring that response does not always work as well as it should. 

The American Medical Association is excited about the implications of the weight loss drugs that are proving to be a panacea for people who have struggled to feel normal for years. They are literally urging insurance companies and even Medicare and Medicaid to cover these drugs. They insist that the effects of weight loss that such medications produce will revolutionize our healthcare system. In fact, there are even beliefs that they may work for people with other addictions as well. 

We have all known people who can consume food with the most voracious eaters and never gain a pound. I used to be that way and my father-in-law still is. He is as thin as a rail and yet he is able to consume more food than either my husband or I do in a single day. He eats a very large breakfast each morning and then consumes lunch and snacks until the evening when he enjoys crackers and cheese with his daily intake of wine followed by the same dinner that we all eat. He follows his last meal of the day with cookies or candy or ice cream and yet he stays incredibly thin. I maintain a reasonable albeit more average weight while my husband is much heavier than either of us. Because I purchase and dispense the food I know what each of us consume. We are indeed a study in how different bodies handle very similar amounts of food. 

I appreciate that researchers are learning more and more about how each of our bodies handle our consumption of food. I like that evidence is demonstrating that the heavier people among us may be that way because of a faulty system rather than some flawed personality trait. We have condemned heavy people and celebrated thin ones far too long. Perhaps one day we will be able to help everyone find that feeling of fullness and satisfaction that seems so normal but does not always exist for so many. Maintaining a healthy weight should not be as painful as it is for so many among us. Scientists may have found the fountain of youth in a drug that sets them free to be healthy and energetic like me. I wish the best for them. 

ers are learning more and more about how each of handle our consumption of food. I like that evidence is demonstrating that the heavier people among us may be that way because faulty systems rather than flawed personality traits. We have condemned heavy people and celebrated thin ones far too long. Perhaps one day we will be able to help everyone find that feeling of fullness and satisfaction that seems so normal to people like me but does not always exist for others. Maintaining a healthy weight should not be as painful as it is for so many among us. Scientists may have found the fountain of youth in a drug that sets those who are overweight free to become healthy and energetic like me. I wish the best for them. I hope this is truly the miracle that they need.

I loved studying history in middle school and high school. Sadly there was so much to cover in a very short time that it was like the Readers Digest version of the story of humankind. Even the college level classes that I had to take were quick overviews of mankind’s impact on the evolution of different times and places. Because I did not major in history I only learned a smattering of whatever professors and curriculum designers believed that I needed to know. It fell to books and documentaries to fill me in on the details that I had missed in the rush to get a general idea of the major world events. Suddenly I became fascinated with the long arc history and found myself digging for more and more details like a dedicated archeologist of facts. 

We humans have done some incredibly wonderful things, but we have also been the perpetrators of great evil either through ignorance or greed. In most cases it was indeed greed that prompted people to use and degrade others for the sake of improving their own status and wealth. The enslavement or abuse of others has been a shockingly common theme in history that is all too often ignored or even forgiven as though those who did such things were not able to discern the wrongness of using people as though they were somehow deficient and unworthy of respect. 

My informal study of history has led me to believe that it has always been important to point out instances of man’s inhumanity to man. Somehow throughout history there have been decent and brave souls who were willing to risk countering generally accepted customs that they believed to be wrong. They were unable to simply look away in fear of being ostracized and more often than not their courage became a part of the thread of change that illuminated and eliminated many of the most egregious practices that humans contrived. 

While the open ownership of slaves is mostly a thing of the past, there are still underground organizations and war torn nations trafficking people as though they do not deserve the kind of freedom that most of us enjoy. Children are still being used as laborers in dangerous conditions. We are a far cry from honoring the value of every person who lives on this earth. 

CNN recently uncovered a massive scamming organization operating from a remote area of the war torn country of Myanmar. What was once mostly jungle has been transformed into a self sustaining “city” in which workers are recruited from around the world with false promises of jobs. Once they arrive they must surrender their passports and they essentially become slaves locked behind heavily policed gates. They are then trained to scam people out of their money by posing as friends and confidantes to their victims. Those who refuse to follow orders are beaten and starved. Everyone is expected to earn lots of money for the organization by bilking innocents. The pressure to succeed in the scheme is enforced with torture and threats of death. Those who come expecting a real job become pawns who never receive pay of any kind. The victims that they are trained to befriend and then coax into a fake investment program lose thousands and sometimes even millions of dollars. Both the slave laborers and their victims are innocent parties in an evil system that seems to exist in full view without consequence. 

Here in the United States there have been multiple instances of migrant children working in factories that provide products for well known and reputable companies. Efforts to ferret out and fine the wrongdoers have been mostly unsuccessful as there are not enough inspectors to keep up with the demand. Additionally, those who knowingly hire underage workers often find ways to hide their youngest employees when examiners arrive. It is often only when the children are seriously injured that their presence in jobs where they should not be come to light. It is estimated that the underground use of child labor is present in virtually every state in our nation. In fact, many of the products that we use have come from places around the world where children are used for long hours in dangerous situations.  

It is so much easier to remain ignorant of the wrongdoing of mankind throughout history and in the present. Nobody wants to think about evil. It is so much more pleasant to only focus on the goodness of people. Nonetheless, pretending that the immorality of humans did not or does not exist right in our own backyards almost certainly insures that it will continue without interruption and sometimes even with unearned forgiveness. 

It is naive to create excuses for the slave trade no matter where and when it took place. It is wrong to use people to enrich greedy adults! Facing the reality of such horrendous behavior in our human history is the best way of being alert to the possibility of such things happening again. Pretending otherwise to protect a person’s or a nation’s reputation is simply wrong and even children are capable of grasping such truths.

I knew enough when I was seven years old to complain to my parents about the treatment of the Black people who lived in my city. I witnessed them in the back of the bus I rode to downtown with my mother. I saw the different water fountains and restrooms. I realized that they were not allowed to eat with us or move into our neighborhood. It did not take much analysis in my young mind to know that what was happening to them was wrong. 

The world would become a much better and safer place if we were to simply be honest about the horrific mistakes of humans made in the past and the present. We don’t have to dwell on such things but we certainly need to discuss how to avoid such wrongdoing in the future. We need truth and knowledge to be able to do that.

There are age appropriate ways of teaching everyone how evil can creep into even the best intentions if we are not aware of it or how it works. Instead of banning the teaching of uncomfortable topics or insisting that waking up to facts is somehow wrong, we do ourselves and our children a disservice by not discussing how to right wrongs without hate and vengeance. It may be painful, but in the end a well informed society is a much better one than a community built on fairy tales. Our freedom to speak is perhaps the most important aspect of true independence. We must protect it with unfettered honesty. The search for truth is our greatest right and responsibility. 

I sometimes wonder if I think too much or not enough. I do indeed grapple with how to approach dire situations. As a teacher I was trained to analyze data and observational information to create lessons and a classroom environment conducive to learning. I may react spontaneous to the news o breaking event or idea, but ultimately I return to the careful consideration of how my actions and those of others will impact our daily lives. 

I suppose that because of my background I am rarely relaxed. As a teach and school administrator I had to be aware of everything that was happening at any moment in time. Looking away almost always resulted in accidents and chaos. Humans have a way of becoming prey to accidents, especially when they are gathered in groups. I’ve learned through experience to always be prepared for the worst while hoping that I will only encounter the best. I apply that kind of attention to virtually every aspect of my life which means that I sometimes become exhausted from being on watch for my loved ones and for people in general. 

People accuse me of being too tightly strung and I must admit to owning that characteristic. Perhaps it stems from being an eldest child who carried the bulk of responsibility and expectations in my family, usually induced by my own sense of duty. Maybe it grew from my father’s death and the realization that life can change in the blink of an eye. Possibly it comes from being too conscious of the vagaries and challenges of the world in which we now live. Whatever has caused me to be this way is all at once both a gift and a curse. Somehow I am rarely in a totally relaxed state of mind and mostly my worries are about the people and the nation that I love. I want more than anything to keep them from harm as much as possible. 

Of late i have attempted to learn from my adult children and from my grandchildren who are beginning to advance onto the world stage. They have grown up in a world far different from my own. Some of my experiences and thoughts may seem ancient to them just as their points of view sometimes feel radical and even strange to me. Nonetheless, rather than arguing with them I find myself more and more often simply listening to them and even considering the possibility of changing the ways in which I think and do things. 

Perhaps there is a good balance between the so called wisdom of age and the embrace of the future as envisioned by the young. I suppose that I sometimes seem a bit wishy washy to them in my attempts to consider both sides of an argument or belief. it takes me time to embrace a conclusion by which I will guide my choices in life. My reluctance is not based on an unwillingness to evolve, but rather a long held instinct to carefully analyze each unique situation within the context of all of the possible outcomes. I suppose that I have always been the person who asks questions and then does research to find answers. 

What I have learned is that in many ways the youngest adults among us have the most revolutionary and credible ideas. They are often operating from more knowledge that those of us who are older my have, especially when it comes to issues like technology and world events. They are less inclined to cling to old and outdated viewpoints. They look to the future rather than the past. They are not yet nostalgic like older people often become. They are looking ahead to a lifetime of creation while we look backward because we know that with each passing year our days are numbered. They should take the keys from us and take hold of the wheel. We should gladly give them the opportunity to show us what they can do. 

My grandfather Little was a paragon of wisdom, and in that vein he never stopped learning. He celebrated progress and only related stories of the past to show us the threads of enterprise that led to a better world. He related the glories of the willingness to adapt to a changing world. he clearly understood that along with inventiveness that makes our lives easier there must also be new ways of thinking that are in touch with the realities of both the present and the future. He used the past to point out the areas where we were flawed and those when we were willing to change for the betterment of all. Even at the age of one hundred eight he was still celebrating forward change and urging us to keep our minds as open as possible. 

The most wonderful moments that I experience tend to be with young people. They are still learning, but often they know more than I do. I glory in encouraging them to enlighten me. They teach me something new with every encounter. I see that they are far from being the lazy or ignorant souls that some older folks accuse them of being. They challenge us to see the world from a broader perspective than the narrow confines of our own opinions. We would do well to listen to them rather than attempting to drown out their thoughts or punish them for disagreeing with the generally accepted ways of seeing things. We should instead remember the youngsters like James Madison and Alexander Hamilton who proposed revolutionary ideas to create a new country that they hoped would never be static. They understood the dangers of clinging to the old ways rather than being willing to move forward in sometimes dramatically different directions than the world had ever seen. 

I love nothing more than being challenged by young people whose beliefs are much more radical than mine. I find them to be earnest in their insistence that there are indeed situations in which the old ways no longer work. Their intent is to reshape the world into better and better approximations of freedom for all people, even those beyond our borders. They see a big picture rather than a narrow one. They are exciting and eager. I learn from them with every encounter and it keeps me young at heart.  

The world is in such a state of chaos that sometimes it is difficult to see the goodness that is always around us, even in the most chaotic and challenging moments. We often have to force ourselves not to despair when we see so many images of man’s inhumanity to man. Such times are also when we are most likely to see heroes, good people who dive into the fray to be helpers. Such souls are always quietly among us humbly and quietly using their kindness and their talents to ease pain. They are the souls who run into disasters rather than away from them. They open their hearts and their homes and their pocketbooks to suffering souls anonymously. The do not seek glory, but instead earnestly spread their compassion simply because they know it is the right thing to do. Sometimes they even sacrifice their lives in the quest to comfort strangers in need. 

They are the people like my neighbor who demanded a murderer to release his frightened children into her care after he had killed their mother. They are souls who volunteer at soup kitchens and food pantries. They are the former school administrator who rushes to Haiti after an earthquake to provide aid and succor. They are the colleague who has built a school and cultivated a community farm in Africa. They are people who do not see others as members of unseen masses, but as beautiful individuals with the same hopes and dreams that each of us hold dearly in our hearts. They are the young person who puts his reputation and safety on the line advocating for the misunderstood. 

Good people are all around us, going about their lives like the rest of us. Sometimes we do not even know the extent of their goodness until they have died. Their goal is not to achieve status or glory, but simply to respond to the cries for help that they encounter. I had a cousin who died much younger than the rest of us. We loved him and laughed constantly at his silly jokes, but we had little idea of the saintly man that he was until the testimonials of his charitable heart informed us of his largess. We were stunned to learn of his ceaseless devotion to performing works of mercy. 

My own mother suffered far more than most people ever will and yet her love radiated out in all directions like rays of sacrifice and joy from the center of her heart. She gave of herself intensely and more often than not she was totally misunderstood because of her many illnesses and lack of worldly riches. Still, she touched the hearts of many people who might otherwise have been forgotten. She really saw people that others may not have ever noticed.

My uncle William was another such person. He was quiet, unassuming and sometimes seemingly invisible beyond the borders of his home. Those of us who knew him often took his goodness for granted because there was nothing flashy or exciting about him. He simply went about his days spreading boundless love, even to the mother of a mass murdere whom he happened to know because of his work as a postal carrier

People sometimes overlook the wisdom and glory of the quiet people who respond to the needs of others. We elevate those who seem strong and powerful rather than noticing that it is the legion of faceless helpers who change the world for the better, not the blustering showboaters whose goal is to maintain power. We only notice the guy with a tiny boat when rains inundate our homes and he comes to save us. 

If we stop long enough to watch and to see beyond the wars and the shooters and the haters our vision will clear. Suddenly we notice the woman cleaning the rooms of the sick, the doctors and nurses who won’t leave a hospital even as bombs detonate around them. We see the police and firefighters and volunteers who race into a building that is about to collapse to save those attempting to escape for the flames. We hear of chefs bringing food to places where most of us would not dare to go. 

Sometimes it seems easier to give up hope than to join the legions of ordinary people with extraordinary altruism and courage. We worry about the state of the world instead of finding a way to be kind, to do good, to create the changes that will benefit all. We sit in our tiny worlds and see only masses of suffering rather than noticing each individual. We forget that what separates us as humans is small and insignificant. Often we do not even notice all of the things that unite us. 

We have the power to rescue people from harm but sometimes seem to lack the will. It is easier to only see the world as a game of them versus me. We demand simplistic solutions that do not endanger our bank accounts or our comfort. We walk through life avoiding any person or situation that makes us feel uncomfortable and yet surely we see the real heroes, the people unafraid to make a difference without concern about the sacrifices that may be required. 

Take some time to look at even the most horrific places where war and destruction exist. It is in the ashes that you will find the unknown souls who always respond to cries for help. Look at them. Know them. Be them.