Reflecting on your own life, can you identify a personal experience where you acted as an
agent of change in challenging or upholding societal norms, and how did that experience align
with or diverge from your values?
Societal norms? No. I don't even know what that means anymore, everyone seems be doing what's
right in their own eyes these days. And I'm nobody special, just one man trying to live his life
the best he knows how. I try to mentor the young men around me, that's meaningful, and they seem
to respond well. I try to be a good example for my children, though "A prophet is not without
honor, except in his own house." I try to model how I think others should be treated, to treat
them with dignity and respect and empathy and grace. This reminds me of the Parable of the
Starfish. Society is a bunch of starfish washed on the shore, and I'm but one little boy. Maybe
I'm just another starfish trying to help the few starfish around me, I dunno. But I continue to
pick up the starfish I can and throw them back in. Maybe the problem is too big for me to solve
on my own, so what does it matter? But it matters to that starfish I threw back in, and it
matters to me, and I'm content in that.