John Wood, Jr. delivers the keynote speech on day one of the Weave the Social Fabric Project conference, on race and the power of love as a social value to transcend our divides.
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09/13/2026
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Seven additional leaders from across civic life, education, public service, media, and social innovation have agreed to join a growing group of Americans standing publicly behind a simple but increasingly urgent idea: our country can navigate deep differences without sacrificing either conviction or respect.
3 thoughts on “John Wood, Jr. speaks at the Aspen Institute’s #WeaveThePeople 2019”
While I agree in general with the thrust of John’s assertion – Love is where it’s at (excuse my paraphrasing), it will not yield to the sometimes quoted saying, “fake it until you make it”. My belief is that our love, in general, is smothered by our fear.
So, if you accept what I have said so far, then our first task should be, figure out how to reduce/eliminate our fear. In our relationships with others, a good first step is to get to know them better, thereby reducing the sense of “other”. I would also argue that obtaining a better understanding of how fear is generated – in ALL of us – that this would take us a long way toward reducing that fear and enabling us to demonstrate and exemplify the LOVE John is talking about.
John, this was excellent. Thanks for sharing so much of yourself in your discussion. I pray that the Spirit that was with you will be with me as I preach this Sunday on a message that could be polarizing if not listened to with love.
Thank you brother. It means a lot. And I know the Spirit is with you.