I was born in the “Breadbasket of the World”—the Iowa Midwest—near the Mississippi River to a father and mother who instilled equal doses of analytical thinking, and the mystery of faith. I grew up in the Iowa countryside with a love for the land and a sincere respect for the hard-working entrepreneur farmers, and the bounty they brought forth.

My youthful flesh and blood heroes—Edward R. Murrow, President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., the Harlem Globetrotters, Mohammed Ali, Mahatma Gandhi and others, inspired a well of idealism that refuses to run dry.

Public schools in Iowa taught me to think critically, not judge quickly. To that end, student exchange programs offered a variety of experiences: President Marco’s Declaration of Martial Law, and a view of Poland’s Communism, from the anti-aircraft guns and soldiers, to the dusty aged products offered for tourists. Joined by high school students from the around country, we traveled through Austria, Poland, Greece, Belgium, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Germany.

I saw the world as a whole: human beings as one color—the red color of the blood that flows from each of us. I understood early on that human beings—regardless of age, race, color, creed, gender, religion, or cultural position—have identical human needs, just like Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” proclaims.

Unfortunately, the simplicity of this truth – like most truth – is historically trampled by the politics of fear, greed, and power. But, it cannot be forever torn asunder.