The thing you think needs to be said, and—when you say it—others say (out loud or in their heads), "I’m so glad someone said that."

The moment it would be easy not to do something, but you push through that and do what should be done. 

When someone else speaks up and needs support—and you give it and stand by them, bolstering them.

When you do the thing that other people are too tired or too swamped to do.

When you do the thing that other people are too nervous, too disillusioned, or too cowed to do.

When you take the time to find the words to articulate the right idea, walking the right path if it’s a difficult one, and help Truth, and not just an expression of individual feelings, to bloom in a conversation.

When you say the thing that needs to be said, knowing it may come at a short-term personal cost, but the long-term cost to you and others in not saying it is higher and you’re willing to pay a tax for the general good, to make a personal investment in what’s right, on faith that the dividend will come… even if it’s only your beneficiaries that it goes to. 

When you take what privilege you have to give and spend it. Even more so when you don’t have much to give and the cost is manifest.

When you do these things—you are my hero. You’re Monet, King, Twain, Lorde, Tolstoy, Einstein, Baldwin, Beethoven, Stanton, Parks, [insert any famous truth seeker you adore].

You help elevate us all and you light the room. You look inside yourself, find a little bit of magic, and share it with others. You make the world better. 

Thank you. Keep doing that.