Friends,

My wife and six-year-old son were out together yesterday when they passed a man panhandling at an intersection.

When our son asked why she didn’t roll down the window to give him something, my wife explained that she didn’t have any cash or even coins to offer him.

“Tomorrow, mama,” he told her. “We should get dollars and go hand them to the people in the park who need them.”

“Yes,” my wife said. “We should do that.”

Of course the exchange warmed my heart and made me deeply proud when I heard it.

When even a young boy can look out and know—can see with his own eyes—how much injustice remains in the world, it reminds me why the work the dedicated team at Common Dreams does each and every day remains so vital.

During what should be a season of giving and reflection, I want to thank all our supporters for all that you do to make the world a better place. Thank you for the empathy you show others and the light you provide even when things look dark. You give me hope—real hope.

At Common Dreams, a key part of our mission is to lift people up—regardless of what the daily news brings—because we need to be reminded that the world, and the people and creatures in it, are depending on us to keep fighting.

If you can today, please think about supporting a news outlet that does not close its eyes to injustice, bury its sense of empathy, nor hide its justified outrage.

But even if you can’t, we understand. We don’t always have money in our pockets. And that’s the point.

Wishing everyone a happy holiday season and a New Year to come that brings us closer to our common dreams—a year in which empathy and human goodness wins more than it loses.

With deepest gratitude,

Jon Queally
Managing Editor
for the whole Common Dreams news team