Introductory Note from Stephen Leeb: I’ve written extensively about how the U.S. changed for the worse—economically and as a nation—as a direct result of our having abandoned the gold standard more than a half century ago. I have outlined in countless previous blogs and books how gold’s unique characteristics have given it both material and spiritual value – being valued highly throughout history in both worlds.
I have addressed what we have lost economically by going off of the gold standard, but I have never really addressed what I feel we have lost as individuals. I am going to leave that to my colleague, with whom I work closely and share many views – most importantly, the value of spirituality and kindness. Since she is a published poet, I feel she will do much better than me at articulating the weight of these losses. Kirkus Review has compared her work to Sylvia Plath, but below she is a bit lighter in tone, though no less grave about the importance of the issue. Though she’ll probably be very embarrassed by my adding this – her poetry book, What Breaks Us, is available on Amazon and in bookstores internationally.
I was on the subway yesterday with a man who was 90 years old. I watched as young people sat with their heads down, glued to their phones. No one offered him their seat, perhaps not even noticing that he might have needed one. To be fair, he seemed to be doing pretty well for himself. He probably didn’t need their seat. But it occurred to me that this such thing would’ve never happened in America 30 years ago.
They say chivalry’s dead. When I hear that, I don’t necessarily think of it as a comment on gender roles or performing aspects of deference.
To me, it’s about kindness. And kindness is a muscle.
Certainly there are people who are born naturally more empathetic or compassionate than others. But I think it’s more of a mindset issue. In 2026, it seems that everyone is so focused on what they have or don’t have – what other people are or aren’t doing for them, or on the ways they’ve been misunderstood. It doesn’t seem they’re taking the time to think of others.
And society is worse off for it.
Allowances must be made for mental illness or other things that prevent people from having the capacity to consider the needs of a stranger. But it’s the small things that have been missing from our society. Holding the door for someone, a smile on the street, giving up your seat for someone who might have a harder time standing than you do.
It is the choice to focus completely on oneself that leads to an unhappy life. I understand that material needs matter, and that there is an absolute necessity to fulfilling Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It’s even understandable that in the economic times in which we are living, the fear of not having those basic needs met can be all-consuming. You must have food, water, and shelter. But I think that love and kindness fall much higher in that pyramid of needs than Maslow thought.
The fragility of mankind dictates that you need to buttress yourself against outside forces. This necessity for self-protection is accentuated by the competing cultural forces and ideologies that surround us. The idea that hard-working people don’t deserve a living wage – and I’m not referencing people who are unwilling to work, and certainly not people who are incapacitated by physical disabilities or mental illness because they deserve the dignity of assistance and that is a different conversation – but people who have the capacity to work and, moreover, do work very hard deserving the human dignity of a living wage. Poor people in America being forced to choose between food and health care, or living in squalor while those at the top continue to accumulate massive amounts of wealth. The U.S. fighting a war along with an Israeli government that is shooting women and children. The moral compass of this country has veered off course. If the North Star were freedom, you might not say that it’s now directly pointed south, but it is certainly no longer pointing north.
Today, when I got on the subway, I watched a homeless man offer a young woman his seat. He looked so tired. So weary. And yet he still had the desire to offer an act of kindness. A senseless act of kindness.
This idea comes from Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman’s compelling Russian novel. It is here where this idea of senseless acts of kindness becomes the one ember that keeps the fire of humanity alive. Set against the totalitarian regimes and atrocities of World War II, the book’s characters are constantly swept up in violent historical mechanisms, but throughout the novel, Grossman suggests that while vast systems of cruelty and grand historical forces are designed to crush individuals, they are completely powerless against isolated, unreasoned, and spontaneous acts of love. Feeding a stranger, comforting a crying child who isn’t yours, or sharing a morsel of bread—these gestures reject the logic of survival in favor of humanity.
While not changing global outcomes, these seemingly senseless acts defy systemic evil and keep a “kernel of human kindness” alive. Kindness remains indestructible because it does not seek power or control. The moment it is used as a tool to gain, it loses its purity. When global circumstances appear to dictate suffering, an individual’s choice to prioritize human connection over self-preservation becomes an act of personal, internal rebellion.
Spirituality sits at the juncture of this rebellion. John F. Kennedy was on a mission to bring peace stemming from that spiritual recognition of oneness to the global community. In his final address to the United Nations Assembly in 1963, he said, “Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.” A rebellion against conformity. A rebellion of the heart.
It is heartbreaking to think of what the world lost on that Friday in November 1963, and the opportunity that the global community lost to come together and build a brighter, more collaborative future. Kennedy often spoke of cooperation and diplomacy as necessities for human survival. He emphasized shared mortality and believed that true peace did not rely solely on treaties or covenants but on the “hearts and minds of all people.” This was reflected not just in his words but in his actions. Amidst the Christmas celebrations in 1962, the President learned that a young kitchen staffer couldn’t afford to visit his dying mother. JFK personally intervened, quietly coordinating a private flight and a week of paid leave, and strictly forbidding anyone from revealing him as the donor. According to his aides’ journals, this was typical of Kennedy—a man who showed sincere interest and always had a kind word for everyone he met, regardless of their rank or title. A man who carried that small kernel in his heart and showed consistent acts of senseless kindness.
In the wake of his assassination, we began to see the unquenchable American thirst for global power emerge. Choices that our government has made in the last 63 years have repeatedly shown a quest for power taking precedence over kindness and cooperation, and thus, the spiritual bedrock that was once so strong and impermeable, supporting the vast growth of America, has been slowly crumbling, not only in our government, but in the very fabric of our culture.
Chekhov once said, “Let’s put God and all these grand, progressive ideas to one side. Let’s begin with man. Let’s be kind and attentive to the individual man.” It may take years to return as a society and a country to where we once were. We may never get there. We certainly won’t until we can begin to reprioritize the good of all over materiality and see ourselves as equal to every man, woman, and child—all equally deserving of the freedoms our Founding Fathers classified as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But it takes less than one second to look someone in the eye and smile. It might just make their entire day. And, moreover, it might make the day of the person doing the smiling as well.
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