It’s hard to overstate the feeling of excitement of going to India for the first time. Even if it’s for just a few days, you’ll be working most of the time, and you’re nervous that jet lag might play havoc with all your good intentions.

If there’s a group of people who embody what we call “the starving majority” of Americans who are exhausted by division and contempt, it’s our school leaders.

A couple of years ago, I was coming home from work in a fantastic mood, just floating on a wave of goodwill, when I found myself crossing the street at a corner. When I was in the middle of the street, the driver of a car that had inched past the crosswalk took his foot off the brake to make a right turn, and his car started backing toward me.

My colleague, Meghan Monroe, a former teacher and trainer in the Dignity Index, went out to lunch with a friend on the 4th of July. Her friend was late and Meghan found herself waiting outside the restaurant where, to her surprise, a protest march approached.

June has been a busy month for our Dignity Index team, with presentations and workshops stretching from Arizona, Utah, and Chicago, to Virginia, Maryland, New York City, and Rhode Island. And India (!) – where my colleague Alicia Burke and I traveled to lead a series of workshops with corporate leaders in Ahmedebad.

Last week, I gave a talk about our dignity movement to a conference of higher education leaders. I shared our core beliefs: that how we treat each other is the new issue of our time, that the Dignity Index helps us see that we’ve all become more contemptuous than we realize, and that with a little effort and new skills, we can all do better.  

Occasionally, a tragedy can wake us up and change our path. Perhaps, the political assassination of Rep. Melissa Hortman in Minnesota on Saturday can make us see what we’ve been denying – that political language can lead to violence.

Last week, my childhood home was recommended for historic status in Montgomery County, Maryland. But that’s not because I lived there from the age of 2 to 21. It’s because the worldwide Special Olympics movement was founded there, in the backyard of our home.

A few months ago, after I had presented the Dignity Index to a group of people who work with at-risk teenagers, a woman asked to speak to me out in the hallway, away from the group.

Cadets in the United States Military Academy at West Point are encouraged to live by the motto, “Duty, Honor, Country.” We at the Dignity Index are thrilled that a group of seniors added “Dignity” to the list of values studied this year for a class project that became so much more than academic work – for us and the future Army leaders. 

Most Americans dislike like the culture of contempt. So, why is it growing?   

Because we dislike it as individuals, but it grows as a culture.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, expectant mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, mother-like aunts, self-mothers (I just learned that term), and everyone who takes the time to be like a mother to anyone who needs a mother.

When I was in 8th grade, my junior high school librarian invited my class to write a short paper on life goals – basically, what did we want to be when we grew up?

Pope Francis, who died just hours after he celebrated the great feast of Easter with believers all over the world, was a man who inspired many of us who believe in the power of dignity.

My work with the Dignity Index keeps me on the road (or in the air) pretty often, and last week found me on a flight to Southern California.

Last week my brother Mark and I, together with our wives Linda and Jeanne, welcomed our sister Maria back home to Washington for a celebration of her new book, “I Am Maria.”  

“To the world we dream about,
and the one we live in now.”  

On Thursday night, I sat in a darkened high school auditorium, expecting to be impressed but not prepared to be awed. 

Last week I returned home from the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin Italy. The Opening Ceremonies were held in the Inalpi Arena in Turin on Saturday, March 8th.

Have you ever asked yourself how many cultures you live in?

As I’m using the term here, a culture is a group of people who share a set of habits, behaviors, traditions and values. A culture is shaped in part by what we encourage and reward.

Last week I was in Palo Alto wrapping up a yearlong fellowship with the Emerson Collective—an organization working to create “a world of abundance for future generations” by supporting people and projects that strengthen communities.