Friends, I promise that these weekly reflections will not be an endless parade of memorials.

And yet. What a time.

Today I offer short quotes from two lives of wisdom and action – Wendell Berry and Gloria Steinem. It would be easy to think of these two in separate (or even opposite) categories, but both recognized the power of community. Both held clarity regarding where their own time was best spent. Both saw that our nanosecond news cycles run out of sync with our most important endeavors. And, I just realized this week, both advocated for joy as an act of deep and informed hope.

How lucky we are that all they touched is forever changed, as is true for each of us in our own lives.

How lucky we are that their written works can live on, unbound by time.

Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.  – Wendell Berry

Laughter is the only free emotion – the only one that can’t be compelled.  – Gloria Steinem

*****

Some of my favorite writing by these two includes:

Wendell Berry:

* Manifesto: The Mad Farmer’s Rebellion   This poem hangs in a spot in my home where I can see it every day. Each line holds a sharp edged beauty and power.

* The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture

* This Day: Sabbath Poems 1979-2012

Gloria Steinem:

* An Unexpected Life (forthcoming)

* Revolution from Within

* 50 Years of Ms.