Everything you just read in yesterday’s Elephant newsletter was hogwash. Cheerful April Fool’s!

Humor is, of course, a part of “the mindful life.” Making fun of ourselves is good for ourselves.

That said, it’s a sad world out there. There’s a great deal of cynicism, much of it the result of seeing other’s cynicism.

Lately, I’ve been cheered by the example of one woman. Kino. While both “sides” have fair points, Kino has stuck her neck out for a friend and a colleague in a way that she didn’t have to—and in a way that no other yogi in the yoga community has. Yes, other good folks have shared up her stories, and the rebuttals by Cody/Alo and those sympathetic to that side.

But whatever’s right or wrong, Kino has distinguished herself as someone brave, and willing to step up.

And that’s dispelled some of my cynicism.

What our world needs now is many Kinos—many of us to step up and be brave. But, too the world, needs many Elephants, perhaps—we have tried, and thus far mostly failed, to offer a forum for respectful discussion of difficult issues to all “sides”—in an attempt to broker some sort of meaningful peace.

And, our world needs you. We need you to get or stay involved in issues you care about—issues about decency and empathy and love and equality.

Whatever our obstacles—even nuclear war or climate change—we can create and maintain peace only by engaging peacefully, ourselves.