When asked about his creative songwriting process in a 2015 interview, Black Francis, the front man for the indie rock band the Pixies, mused about how his music has become more complex over time. He observed that children often notice simple details that adults can miss, because young people’s minds aren't bogged down with the complications of life. There is beauty in simplicity, but finding it often gets harder over time. “When you get older, you stop seeing things,” Francis reflected. “As your brain becomes more full of things and full of more music, it becomes harder to see something, to write something simple.”

In her 1961 essay "On Self-Respect," writer and cultural icon Joan Didion laid out one of the most essential truths about self-love. When we are accountable for our words and actions — and act with integrity even in the face of adversity — we are far more likely to find pride, confidence, and respect for ourselves. Taking responsibility is not always easy, but it’s a worthy pursuit. As Didion wrote, “people with self-respect exhibit a certain toughness, a kind of moral nerve; they display what was once called character.”

In 1879, Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé, who was known to his own people as In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat (Thunder-Traveling-Over-the-Mountains), traveled to Washington, D.C., to negotiate the return of his homeland, a swath of North America that spanned from the Bitterroot Mountains of western Montana to the Wallowas of eastern Oregon. While he was visiting, he granted an interview to reporters and began by saying, “My friends, I have been asked to show you my heart.” What followed was a passionate polemic for equality, circling back over and over again to the idea that all men are brothers, and should have equal rights on Earth. Almost 150 years later, it is an idea that remains worth fighting for.