By Gary Hume | Apr 26, 2023
The death of their son on 9/11 brought Elizabeth and Stephen Alderman merciless grief. Soon afterward, they learned in a news report that a billion people around the world had experienced severe trauma. The Aldermans could relate. They understand: Suffering is...
By Gary Hume | Apr 26, 2023
In 1998, I read a letter in The Houston Chronicle that said thousands of schoolchildren never get eye exams or glasses because their families can’t afford them. I’m an optometrist, and I’ve long provided free eye care to many low-income kids. But...
By Gary Hume | Apr 26, 2023
At certain times, a human life takes a quantum leap. That happened to me in 2000 while on a journalism assignment in the Nairobi slums. The activist and Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai introduced me to a network of women who – without funding – were taking...
By Gary Hume | Apr 26, 2023
In 2001, I found myself near the top of the mountain that was the vertically integrated health care system for which I worked. I was successful, well-compensated, respected, and influential. So why was I only really happy for a couple of hours a week? Those hours were...