This week my friend and colleague Karen Roeper gave an inspiring speech to the graduating class at the Roeper School in Michigan.  The school was founded by her parents in 1941 when they were forced to leave Nazi Germany.  Already involved in education, they came to America in 1939 vowing to establish a school that would educate children to participate in the world as caring, humane adults. 

Karen’s theme in her speech is love.  

She shares an excerpt from an interview with the US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. He was asked, “If you could change one thing as Surgeon General that would be immutable for the long haul, what would it be?”

He responded: “If I could change one thing, it would be: I would want us to very explicitly, and unapologetically place love at the center of our lives as a galvanizing force in our society.”

He continued on to talk about how our current society is locked in a struggle between love and fear. 

Karen quotes her mother from her 2007 commencement speech: “If you really love yourself, then you will love life itself and you won’t want to hurt or harm others.”

Buddhist Jack Kornfield offers a practice: “When you are walking around the world, see every person as once having been a newborn child.”

Yesterday I spent time in my neighbor’s beautiful yard which is an offering to serenity for all who come, plants, animals, birds. I share a taste.