Dear Friends,
Thirty-two years ago and 3.7 billion miles away, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft took one final look back at Earth and captured a series of images before leaving our solar system. Among these 60 photographs is the iconic A Pale Blue Dot showcasing the vastness of space, and within it, our home, our neighbors, our shared history, and all of humanity.
 A Pale Blue Dot, photograph taken on February 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1 space probe. NASA/JPL-Caltech
I was recently reminded of this photograph and the work of planetary scientist and Cornell University astronomer Carl Sagan when our team discussed the Targeted Universalism framework developed by john a. powell, Stephen Menendian, and Wendy Ake and its application to our strategies on early relational health, community engagement among young people, and the building of a healthy pluralistic democracy.
In his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, Sagan reflected on the famous portrait of our planet:
“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.”
Let us consider again that dot—our only home that is made up of so many civilizations, cultures, languages, religions, beliefs, and stories. Generation after generation, it holds our joy and pain, rise and fall, healing and division. Even amid the many challenges that we are experiencing today, from systemic dehumanization to toxic polarization, I believe that, at our core, we share a universal commitment to one another and our interconnected existence on that glorious pale blue dot.
In this context, Targeted Universalism gives us a framework to create inclusive policies that honor our differences and abate longstanding disparities—“while reminding us that we are all part of the same social fabric." This approach helps us see what it will take to forge a collective path forward, navigate political gridlock, and maintain a vision for our shared health and wellbeing. Here is one way we are incorporating this concept into our work fostering emotional connection between children and caregivers and providing the necessary foundation of early relational health for all families.
And this month, we are going Through the Prism with Rodney McKenzie, Jr., a community organizer, reverend, and Vice President of Ally Development at the Fetzer Institute, one of our remarkable peers in philanthropy and a leader in healing divides. Rodney talks to us about the transformative power and audacity of love in moving through loss, building a movement, and creating a space for sacred communal imagination. Rodney asks us to consider: “How does my love meet where people are at this moment? Can I—can we—be the lovers of our world?”
As always, we have created a list of resources to help you take a self-compassion break, take a chance on others, and take time to go beyond the echo chambers to build unity and solidarity across our differences. As we head into the height of the summer, I hope that you will answer A Call to Connection by practicing and cultivating gratitude—a discipline of noticing the good things in our lives and recognizing that we are not solely responsible for generating those good things. Rather, it is on us to remember to take a pause, because when we do, we realize that the things to feel grateful for can be found nearly anywhere in our midst: the air we breathe, the soft touch of a loved one, the gentle smile of a stranger, and the way we relate to each other on this pale blue dot.
May you find time to rest, share moments of thankfulness, and celebrate the vastness that makes us universally human.
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