Real heroes are not anti-heroes, who have simply given up on trying to do the right things for the right reasons; but real heroes do get it wrong sometimes.

As the ocean waves at a surf break reveal the structure of the ocean floor beneath, so too do the waves of life reveal a complex map of a person’s character as it is affected by and affecting the vibrant world around them.

Significant individuals tame part of the chaos for the rest of us, reminding us that we no longer live in Hobbes’ everyone-for-himself chaotic state of nature but in a beautifully organized collaborative dance.

If someone’s life—their sense of self, their creativity, their strength, their happiness, their courage, their resilience, their imagination—is enlarged because of your life, that is the evidence of your significance. That is the meaning of your life.

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