Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future

by Pete Buttigieg

One of them tells me he was eighteen when he went, says he’ll never forget the things he saw, but dwells on the ways in which he feels luckier than others who came back unable to move on. “They called me a baby-killer when I got back,” he says, staring into the distance.

it feels better to grow on your own terms than to be painted into a corner.

the fact that many of the worst historical injustices visited upon black citizens of our country came at the hands of local law enforcement. Like an original sin, this basic fact burdens every police officer, no matter how good, and every neighborhood of color, no matter how safe, to this day.

“Life is short, and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel with us; so be quick to love, make haste to be kind, and go in peace to follow the good road of blessing.”

First, it had become clear, we needed to stop treating the White House like it was the only office that mattered.

To be relevant and useful to those who shared our values, the party would have to figure out a way to be part of a new flying formation.

It was another way of looking at the moral stakes of politics as it filters through to millions of lives: that we might all be growing into harder and perhaps worse people, as a consequence of political leadership that failed to call us to our highest values.

A sense of loss inclines us, in vulnerable moments, to view the future with an expectation of harm. But when this happens, we miss the power of a well-envisioned future to inspire us toward greatness.

A marriage can be great. So can a meal, a recovery from illness, or a song. We are shown greatness on the news, but it is also found in everyday lives, and then in the neighborhoods and communities that take on the character of those lives added up.

Afghan proverb that says, “A river is made drop by drop.”