All That Matters

There are moments following a loss where purpose dwindles and the future seems hazy. Some speak of it after a death, others after an election or a divorce or a heartbreak.

Jan shares the story of a woman who experienced the worst of humanity's evil and personal loss. Impossibly, she was the brightest spirit he ever encountered.

She taught him: "Don't die before you're dead."

Sometimes we need to exhale an old version of ourselves and inhale a new "me."

Jan shares the story of Pharrell Williams meeting singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers in a classroom on music and the unique philosophy of creativity he espouses to the class that makes us all unique.

Robert Frost's poem Nothing Gold Can Stay challenges us to consider what is permanent and what is not in life.

Jan shares his recent personal experience with the new musical The Outsiders on Broadway and how a character's dying words quoting Frost illuminate the ongoing power of finding what truly matters.

Jan shares how his life intersected twice with the Nobel Peace Prize Recipient/noted author, Elie Wiesel, and the lesson Wiesel taught that can inspire each of us to live life as it could be.

The world is in dire need of stories that show how some people have met war and devastation with hope. The folding of origami cranes is said to bring the granting of a wish, for life, for recovery. Jan shares the story of a little girl named Sadako and a lesson of love and art to lift us all.

It is the week of the Jewish holiday, Sukkot, a harvest festival, sending out wishes to the world that all might have enough to eat and a place to live. A time for counting blessings and fostering hope.

Jan shares the remarkable story of his meeting a muslim inside a dwelling built for this Jewish holiday and the power each of us can draw from connection.

This week is the one year anniversary of the terrorist attack on innocent families in kibbutzim and at the Youth Dance Festival in Israel. That violence began a cycle of loss of life on all sides. This year's anniversary is a day of memorial and silence, one that can lead to reclaiming what is most important about our lives and being true to our own values- a time of clarity and healing, of focusing on blessings we possess and those we can yet make real.

At the changing of the seasons we feel change calling us. Jan shares two poems that speak to blessings in front of us if we will simply lift our heads and risk seeing, we will uncover possibility and miracles of humanity.

In the words of Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of Hirsch, "Hope Is Not Optional."

In moments of tragedy, we are called on to seek light. Jan shares the true story of 24 year-old Gili Adar who perished nearly a year ago, struck down by terrorists in a moment of dance. Her parents show us how essential it is that we remember, but more, they call on us to find 'slivers of joy' each day and to share them with one another. In such a way, we honor memories and create new light.

Being the first at anything, breaking long-held barriers, takes perseverance, audacity, and quiet determination. It also takes an ability NOT to take NO for an answer.

Jan shares the story of Robin Herman, who helped lead a change in the reporting of Sports that helped transform the industry, and open doors for others, and that matters..