It seems clear that you’ve made kindness your life’s work. What is the story behind that?
My father called me in April 2006 after his terminal lung cancer diagnosis. He was a family therapist, and he had just turned 70. I was 38, with two young school-aged children. We had a difficult relationship, but I flew to Burlington, Vermont, and we started working to heal our relationship. He lived eight months after that call. Those months and the healing process were a gift. We both found peace; he died Dec. 1, 2006, on my son’s sixth birthday.

I attended a convention where Linda Cohen was the speaker. Linda is the author of a couple of books on kindness; her most recent is the Economy of Kindness – How Kindness Transforms Your Bottom Line. I was intrigued, and in between taking photos of the event, I listened.