YOU ARE THE SOLUTION

A plague infects our country and undermines our future. It is insidious and evil. Hatred that permeates our culture creeps into our very souls. It is a crisis of spirit. We have decided as a country not to prioritize poverty, not to solve the problem. SNAP benefits become a political shuttlecock. We don't see the people who are hurt. This insensitivity is displayed in many other places, too. Our national affliction includes daily reports of shootings across our land. It is in the unease we feel about unsafe public spaces. The malady, friends, is our descent into insensitivity.

There was a time when a gunshot was “breaking news.” The Columbine High School Massacre happened in 1999. That year, there were seven mass shootings in our country. In 2012, the year of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, there were twelve school shootings. As I write in mid-September, 2025, guns have been discharged on school property 146 times so far this year. How many of those do we even remember? The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression reported that one-third of college students believe that violence is acceptable to silence opposing voices. Calamity is poisoning our public psyche.

Our public debate reeks of arrogance and bravado, fueled by allusions to fighting and existential rivalry. Our rhetoric is toxic. Some don’t care how words wound others if words make us feel good, get clicks, or feed a ravenous political base. Open expressions of hatred and division are manifestations of decreasing empathy.

Americans must find our way back to caring more about others, avoiding intentional harm, and prizing high ideals. It is easier to activate destruction than to inspire compassionate principles, but we must each try through the example of our lives to show kindness and caring to our tiny slice of this troubled world. Abraham Lincoln called on our better angels. In our age, empathy and love are our only hope.

What does any of this have to do with BPNN? Everything. Great movements of thought and action all begin with a worthy moral value and a core group that acts on it. Our shining volunteers, imperfect though we are, remain a beacon of hope in the darkness of our times. Empathy matters. The desire to see people as brothers and sisters matters. Hope for a better day matters. Spirit matters. Love matters. And you, dear friends, matter more than you might know in fueling bright optimism when despair might otherwise extinguish a noble flame. Don’t give up or give in.

Thank you for all you do. It matters.