Last weekend’s Sunday Times featured a great article by David Brooks in advance of his new book: The Road to Character.

For those of us in the business of “growing good people” I found this article very heartening. As educators and parents we are committed to thinking deeply about where to put our collective energy when educating our children in and around the rest of their academic lives, including the literal and metaphorical list of achievements we and they try to amass for them. It is a reminder that kindness matters. It is a reminder that both doing good and doing genuinely good work nets the best people who emanate goodness. I can think of many people who fit into this category, but most of them would not see themselves in that way. They are too humble. And that is their goodness.

“The stumbler doesn’t build her life by being better than others, but by being better than she used to be.”

I love this quote and the message of the essay. I will be buying the book to see what gems we can glean from all of this. My wish for all of us is that we can radiate an inner light.