Leave people better than you found them
Sometimes the value is in what I have to say, other times it’s in sharing what others have already said
In Special, Ryan O’Connell’s semi-autographical Netflix show, his boyfriend Tanner shares his life motto: leave people better than you found them.
I try to apply that philosophy to this newsletter. I enter your inbox every week and my gosh, I’d better bring something to it that’s worth your time.
As the readership of this email grows, coupled with the overall rise in newsletter writing, I become acutely aware of its value. “What’s the value of creativity?” is a topic for another newsletter, but today I’ve landed on a thought that I’m embarrassed has taken me so long to form. Namely, that sometimes the value I bring you is in what I have to say, other times it’s in sharing what others have already said.
This week is one that falls into the latter. So please enjoy a list of things I’ve read, seen and listened to that have expanded my mind, and ultimately left me better than they found me.
Thank you so much for your generous sharing of astonishing writing. I had not discovered these wonderful sources. I have just spent a long time through the window into two other lives and I am enriched by their reflections on grief.