When I first read Common Sense in college—admittedly, more out of assignment than interest—I understood its place in history but not its wisdom. I recognized that Thomas Paine had written something important, but I didn’t yet grasp why it mattered so deeply: that his words were not just a call for freedom from a king’s rule, but a moral awakening—a...

“The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.” Those words, spoken by Erika Kirk at her husband Charlie’s memorial service, cut through grief and politics with startling clarity. They were not about party or power. They were about...

The murder of Charlie Kirk–gunned down while speaking at Utah Valley University–is another brutal reminder of how political beliefs can metastasize into hatred. On the night of April 4, 1968, after learning that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated, Robert F. Kennedy stood on the back of a flatbed truck before a largely African American crowd in Indianapolis...

Returning from summer vacation, the atmosphere in the country, sadly, remains unchanged. While future commentaries will highlight America’s triumphs as well as the times we found the courage to correct our course, the challenges before us now are too flagrant to ignore: the same divisions, the same anger, the same refusal to face reality persist. With armed National Guard units...

The Great Depression didn’t begin with the crash of ’29. It started earlier—quietly, steadily—beneath the surface of a country convinced the good times would never end. By the start of that year, the warning signs were there. Farmers had been struggling for years, drowning in debt and falling prices. Coal miners were out of work or watching their wages shrink....

Though I was much older than the audience for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, I did watch his testimony before a congressional subcommittee. I came away inspired by his plainspoken common sense, quiet reason, and the values he passed on—kindness, honesty, respect, and the importance of becoming a person of character. In a time when volume often substitutes for values, Fred Rogers...

It’s a story that’s made its way through online forums, Reddit threads, and grief support pages. No news articles. No official confirmation. And maybe that’s the point. The story goes like this: In 2020, while filming News of the World, Tom Hanks received a folded note from his assistant. A man named James Mallory, a retired teacher from Ohio, was...

With the constant churn of headlines—political strife, cultural division, and an unrelenting news cycle—it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, even numb. So when this week’s TIME magazine arrived, I felt an unexpected sense of peace and gratitude. The cover was simple, yet powerful: a full-page portrait of Pope Leo XIV, dressed in royal vestments, hands folded calmly in front of him....

On September 24, 2015, Pope Francis made history as the first pontiff to address a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress. Nearly a decade later, his message still resonates with clarity and urgency. Francis reminded lawmakers that public service is more than legislation, it is a moral occupation: “You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow...

If you live on the West Coast, fires are part of life. Yet the fires raging in California right now—five at last count—are unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed. The Palisades Fire alone has burned over 19,000 acres, leaving destruction and heartbreak in its wake. California’s wildfires remind us of two things: our shared vulnerability and the extraordinary strength we summon...