Riane Eisler was so far ahead. Now she is right on time.

I've been thinking about grit as a character trait ever since we decided on the theme for this year's Gala; Architects of Justice. Say "grit" and my mind immediately goes to the Charles Porter classic novel, True Grit with its infamous lines, "There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it." While Porter's protagonist, Mattie Ross, sought retribution for the murder of her father, exemplifying one aspect of grit, the Charter's Humanitarian Awardees each demonstrate a variation of grit beyond perseverance. Each of them has continued to demonstrate a passion for following through on a vision, a vision that is justice.

Let me turn to the words of an expert on grit, Angela Duckworth. Her work has earned her a MacArthur Genius Award and her research and application methods are so outstanding that they are both understandable and make perfect sense. She writes:

"...[T]here are no shortcuts to excellence. Developing real expertise, figuring out really hard problems, it all takes time―longer than most people imagine....you've got to apply those skills and produce goods or services that are valuable to people....Grit is about working on something you care about so much that you're willing to stay loyal to it...it's doing what you love, but not just falling in love―staying in love."

This message from Marilyn Turkovich, Executive Director of the Charter for Compassion, appears in our 10/22/2022 weekly newsletter. To sign up for our newsletter, scroll all the way down to the end of this page to get to the bottom menu; in the newsletter section, enter your email address and click on subscribe.