At the core of anything great that has ever happened...

Nobody likes a group of angry do-gooders shouting save the world...

There is a greatness waiting for you...

When we look at a statue of someone great...

When you cried during It's a Wonderful Life...

AT THE CORE OF ANYTHING great that has ever happened, anywhere, is a simple idea: We must care about each other, no exceptions. It is the stuff of revolutions, fairy tales and everyday miracles - tiny, almost invisible. IT IS THE SPARK that causes us to reach beyond our own lives and do something. This idea occasionally gets drowned out by noise and nonsense, but eventually, inevitably, it comes bubbling up. And if we listen, the impossible happens, worlds get transformed. More SURPRISINGLY, SO DO WE.

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Nobody likes a group of angry do-gooders shouting SAVE THE WORLD. That's not what this is about. This is a revolution, but it is a joyful revolution. It is a revolution based on a simple idea: Each of us has something inside that is making noise. UNDERNEATH ALL OF THE LAYERS, the me-first layer and the get-out-of-my-way layer and the keep-your-hands-off-my-stuff-layer, a halfway decent person is in there, waiting to be heard. That person isn't angry. HE JUST WANTS OUT.

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THERE IS A GREATNESS WAITING FOR YOU. We are busy, we are distracted, we are cynical, but this greatness waits. Through a speech by Dr. King or the story of the Grinch or even a bumper sticker, THIS GREATNESS FINDS YOU IN A moment, unlikely or untimely, and suddenly you find yourself connected to humanity in a way that shocks you. And this greatness will hold you up so high and strong that any previous version of YOURSELF SEEMS FLIMSY.

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When we look at a statue OF SOMEONE GREAT, we think they've got something we don't. We are trained to think that only a tiny percentage of us have the stuff it takes to be a hero. Not many of us will cure any diseases or slay any dragons, but every single one of us, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US, is called to be a king, a queen, a hero in our ordinary lives. We don't build statues to worship the exceptional life, we build them to remind ourselves what is POSSIBLE IN OUR OWN.

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When you cried during It's a Wonderful Life, PART OF YOU KNEW you were onto something. There was a time when you knew, really knew, that chaining up a dog was mean and no adult could tell you otherwise. We begin our compass dead center, but slowly we stop trusting it AND IT GETS OFF TRACK. We can fix it. This isn't about liberating dogs or crying at movies, it is about putting you heart where it belongs, being the person you know you were meant to be, the one you probably were IN THE 3rd GRADE.

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