Inspiration
Sources of learning, civility & resolve to further improve our nation
To overcome the very real challenges of modern America, we draw inspiration for learning and civility and resolve from these various sources, so that we may not only come together despite our differences – whether they be based on geography, politics, beliefs, education, profession, race, religion or any other categorization – but so that we may draw strength and empowerment from them.
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American Ramble by Neil King
American Reboot by Will Hurd
American Schism by Seth David Radwell
Become America by Eric Liu
Bill of Obligations by Richard Haass
Factfulness by Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Ronnlund, Ola Rosling
I Never Thought of it That Way by Mónica Guzmàn
Mending America’s Political Divide by Rene Levy
Our Towns by Deborah & James Fallows
Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
The Soul of America by John Meacham
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
Them by Ben Sasse
Think Again by Adam Grant
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
Travels with George by Nathaniel Philbrick
Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose
Why are We Yelling? by Buster Benson
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Click here to listen to our featured song:
Bird o’ Freedom by John Dennis
Click here to listen to our playlist:
America by Mike Masse ft. Sterling Cottam & Jeff Hall
America the Beautiful by Ray Charles
Be a Light by Thomas Rhett
Beauty in the World by Macy Gray
Don’t Stop by Fleetwood Mac
Good Day by Greg Street ft. Nappy Roots
Higher & Higher by Jackie Wilson
Living in America by James Brown
Love the One You’re With by Stephen Stills
Lovely Day by Bill Withers
Most People Are Good by Luke Bryan
Only in America by Brooks & Dunn
Party in the U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus
Pink Houses by John Mellencamp
Proud to be an American by Beyonce
R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. by John Mellencamp
Star-Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix
Star-Spangled Banner by Whitney Houston
Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver
This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
Undivided by Tim McGraw, Tyler Hubbard
What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye
Where is the Love? by The Black Eyed Peas
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I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
Inaugural Address by Pres. John F. Kennedy (1961)
This is Water by David Foster Wallace (2005)
U.S.N.A. Commencement Speech by Sen. John S. McCain (1993)
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"[A]sk not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country."
— Pres. John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address (1961)
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up (1936)
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
— Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)
"[T]his is one part of what teaching me how to think is really supposed to mean[:] To be just a little less arrogant. To have just a little critical awareness about myself and my certainties. Because a huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded."
— David Foster Wallace, "This is Water" Address to Kenyon College (2005)
“There are three kinds of patriots, two bad, one good. The bad are the uncritical lovers and the loveless critics. Good patriots carry on a lover's quarrel with their country.”
— William Sloane Coffin, Credo (2004)
"For all of our enormous geographic range, for all of our sectionalism, for all of our interwoven breeds drawn from every part of the ethnic world, we are a nation, a new breed. Americans are much more American than they are Northerners, Southerners, Westerners, or Easterners....This is not patriotic whoop-de-do; it is carefully observed fact."
— John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962)
“Few things have done more harm than the belief on the part of individuals or groups (or tribes or states or nations or churches) that he or she or they are in sole possession of the truth: especially about how to live, what to be and do - and that those who differ from them are not merely mistaken, but wicked or mad: and need restraining or suppressing. It is a terrible and dangerous arrogance to believe that you alone are right, have a magical eye which sees the truth, and that others cannot be right if they disagree.“
— Sir Isaiah Berlin, as cited in New York Review of Books (10/18/01)
“‘Be curious, not judgmental.’ I like that.”
—Ted Lasso on “Ted Lasso” referencing Walt Whitman, who never actually said it (per Snopes)
“‘[I]t’s a disaster to discover the humanity of your enemy, his nobility, because then he is not your enemy anymore, he just can’t be.”
—Bassam Aramin in Apeirogon by Colum McCann (2020)
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
—Rumi, Persian poet, Islamic scholar (1207-1273)
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The Origin of American Tributaries (Jan 2, 2024)
Choosing to Love Our Country (Jul 1, 2022)
An Improbable Dinner (Jun 14, 2022)
Truth through Compassion, Respect & Curiosity (Feb 10, 2022)
Little Valley -- On Our American Fellowship (Jan 6, 2022)
The Blame is on Each of Us (Oct 8, 2021)
9/11 Unity in 2021 (Sep 13, 2021)
“There are three kinds of patriots, two bad, one good. The bad are the uncritical lovers and the loveless critics. Good patriots carry on a lover's quarrel with their country.”
— William Sloane Coffie, Credo (2004)