On Advocacy

My grandfather believed the value of a man's life could only be measured by his contributions toward his fellow man--that we are here to take care of one another, and that we are all in this together. I believe that, too. My heroes are the ones who have looked around at their society and their world and asked themselves:

Who is pain? Who's not getting a fair shake? Is someone suffering because of the way we do things, through no fault of their own?

Are the laws we have fair? Are they just? Are they ethical?

How can we do better? 

What am I doing to help? 

I try to hold myself to that standard too, knowing I'll do better some days than others. Sometimes the work might look like what people call progressivism, or liberalism, or activism. I'm not big on isms, so I just call it trying to make a difference and sleep well at night.