It would be refreshing to have a politician try to defend guns without any reference to the Second Amendment, but on the merits of guns.

A few weeks after the worst day, I started writing lots of letters. I don't know why, but it was one of the only things that made my boots lighter.

Every factory-farmed animal is, as a practice, treated in ways that would be illegal if it were a dog or a cat.

We live in a world made up more of story than stuff. We are creatures of memory more than reminders, of love more than likes. Being attentive to the needs of others might not be the point of life, but it is the work of life. It can be messy, and painful, and almost impossibly difficult. But it is not something we give. It is what we get in exchange for having to die.

Everyone performs bad actions... A bad person is someone who does not lament his bad actions.

Was his death an essential stage in the continuation of his life?

Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, and the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty would change us.