The good life is not about avoiding fear. Just the opposite.

Fear doesn't have to stop us.

We can choose who we bring into our lives. We can choose who will reinforce our risk taking.

I get goose-bumps when you talk about Diane Wilson. Who knows where she found that courage? When she was a child, she would crawl under the bed when a stranger came to the house. But in 1989, she found out that her county in south Texas was ranked worst in the country for toxic waste. She wondered if the effluent, dumped into the waters where she and her family had shrimped for generations, might be responsible for the dwindling fish populations. And she suspected that her son's autism might be related to the pollution.

Making conscious choices about what we eat, based on what the earth can sustain and what our bodies need, can help remind us that our whole society must begin to balance sustainable production with human need.

Democracy is not what we have. It is what we do.

The good life for me always meant connecting with those big, important issues that grown-ups get so excited about.