— Anaïs Nin, 1939

In a culture that is allergic to the idea of death, I am grateful for a faith tradition that reminds me I came from dust and will return to dust…. That life is a fragile gift. That remembering my own mortality has a way of autocorrecting the typos in my life.

In cutthroat cultures, people kiss up and kick down. They protect themselves by currying favor with people in power and exploiting those without it.

In supportive cultures, people speak up and shield down. They protect others who lack power by raising problems to those who have it.