Today is my birthday, and on Sunday morning, I said goodbye to the best human I’ve ever known. I haven’t been able to write about it because it’s so personal and the grief is so deep. Last week, my dear friend and next door neighbor Emile Bruneau, one of the world’s greatest... https://twitter.com/Beyond_Conflict/status/1311391730088980481

...peacemakers, left the world at a time when we need him the most. I am feeling his loss so profoundly today, and in his name—true to my Libra nature—I am posting these photos because I want to talk about balance....

Some backstory: in early December 2016, my wife and I wrote to a letter addressed to the White House, thanking the President for working so hard to ensure our right to be married. Our letter shared the ways in which this right had changed our lives, and our deep gratitude...

...for working so hard to make change. On my birthday in 2017, OBAMA WROTE BACK. Ten months after he was out of office. The President @BarackObama's letter reminded me of how much goodness there is in the world at a time when, like many of you, I was feeling so heartbroken...

...and enraged that I couldn’t sleep. Last night, as I watched the spectacle at the White House, I felt so much hatred rise up in me that I burst into tears, and then I thought of Emile.

Emile, my dear beloved friend, was a world-renowned neuroscientist and researcher in the subjects of dehumanization, intergroup conflict and empathy. In other words, he had been working to answer the question, "Why do we hate each other?"

Last year, Emile was the subject of a six-part HBO documentary series by Stephen Spielberg called “Why We Hate.” Emile’s segment was the last, and it was called “Hope.” HOPE. Emile’s research showed that we have every reason to be hopeful, that with the right interventions...

...lasting change can be made. After his diagnosis, Emile “deputized” (a word I think he probably wouldn’t love) others around the world continue the work in his name. So on my birthday, I’ve got a request. Look up Emile’s work, and today, if you feel hatred rise up...

...resist the urge to meet insanity with rage or despair. Be good to yourselves and the people around you, because we need you to stay hopeful. We need to stay strong. Love always wins. #loveislove #goodthingshappeninphiladelphia