Be the Sun, Not the Salt

#25 Creating Big Change through Small Acts with Brad Aronson

• Brad Aronson, Connie Fontaine and Harry Cohen, PhD • Episode 25

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Join us for an inspiring discussion with Brad Aronson, author of 'Humankind: Changing the World One Small Act at a Time.' Brad shares his journey of discovering the profound impact of small gestures of kindness, especially during difficult times. He emphasizes the importance of being seen (and what that really means) and the power of simple actions to make a huge difference in the lives of others, and for ourselves, in return. Brad also talks to us about his impressive background in digital marketing and entrepreneurship, his teaching experiences, and his dedication to mentoring and nonprofit work. The episode highlights heartwarming stories from his book about others who’ve changed thousands of lives through seemingly small acts, and provides actionable tips on how listeners can incorporate kindness into their daily lives. It might surprise you how easy it is!

Links & References

Brad Aronson’s Book, HumanKind

Best Buddies non-profit in Philadelphia

Big Brothers, Big Sisters

Jim Abbott’s memoir

Gift of Life bone marrow registry

Be the Sun, Not the Salt, by Dr. Harry Cohen

About Brad Aronson
Brad Aronson is a husband and a dad, and when he's holding the parenting reins, he likes to go all out. For him that means leading an egg drop competition from the third-floor window of his family's home or heading up indoor games of baseball and hockey, and then having to explain why something else is now in pieces. Luckily, his wife, Mia, is understanding. 

Brad loves teaching entrepreneurship to youth in Camden, NJ and the Kensington section of Philadelphia. Everyone in his class starts their own business, which has led to many adventures in entrepreneurship.

One day, Brad hopes to be famous for co-founding a national holiday that features a seven-foot-tall orange tree and more than fifty stuffed monkeys (see chapter nine in HumanKind). In the meantime, he works with tech startups and writes books.

Brad is the author of the National Bestseller HumanKind: Changing the World One Small Act At a Time. This heartwarming read shares real-life, feel-good stories about how one small deed can make a world of difference. "Elegant and wise" (Deepak Chopra), "The most uplifting and life-affirming book in years." (Forbes) 

All proceeds from his book go to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Brad also invests in startup companies. Brad and his family live in Philadelphia.



To explore the book, or for more episodes, information, tips and tools to live a more heliotropic life, visit us at bethesunnotthesalt.com and find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Brad Aronson: [00:00:00] The hundreds of people I interviewed for my book all agreed on something. One of the things that made a difference to them was being seen. And being seen didn't mean talking about what's going on. I think most of them did not want to talk about it with other people. Being seen was as simple as getting a note saying, Hey, I'm thinking of you or I'm sending a hug or a text saying, Hey, just thinking of you. And what I heard was when you're going through this really traumatic and difficult time, that small gesture gives you the strength to keep going. And so often we think, well, you know, I don't know that person that well, I don't know what to say. You know, it's awkward. All we have to do is send them a note and say, Hey, I'm thinking of you, I'm sending positivity. It makes a difference.

connie_1_12-12-2024_103008: the voice you just heard was Brad Aronson, the author of Humankind. He's not only a sweet, kind, gentle human like you just heard, but he's also a brilliant man who created and sold one of [00:01:00] the first digital marketing agencies and has stayed involved in that space.

but also spends most of his life's work helping people, mentoring, , doing good work. And he's discovered a lot about kindness the importance of small gestures. And when you're going through crisis how important it is for people to take the time to reach out. And he tells us a little bit more about that in our discussion.

harry_1_12-12-2024_103008: His book, Humankind, is an elegant, wise book of love and action. Deepak Chopra is on the front cover as well as Forbes said the most uplifting and life affirming book in years. I found that to be absolutely true. I was motivated, inspired, I wept, and I also learned some stuff. 

connie_1_12-12-2024_103008: I found that I was inspired walking away. The book gives you, you know, nice little reminders at the end of each chapter on things you can do. 

So, please listen, take the time, share it, and , make sure that you do some good in the world today.

Harry Cohen: we are so excited, Brad. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this. And man, [00:02:00] have we gotten to know you from reading this magnificent offering to the world, which we're going to talk about.

Connie Fontaine: You say this. I need anyone that's just listening. we've got Brad's book in front of us because we both earmarked it. We've got sticky notes. It's called humankind changing the world one small act at a time. And so we have devoured this book and it's been a treat.

Brad Aronson: Thank you. Thank you.

Harry Cohen: For people who haven't read the book, we're going to pick it up. They will get the wisdom from what you've written, but from this podcast, we hope that they'll get even more some of the behind the scenes insights and stories from your life to make the world a better place.

Connie Fontaine: Why don't we start out letting Brad introduce himself to our audience and a little bit about your journey. We'd love to hear that.

Brad Aronson: Sure. Uh, I'm an author. I also teach, I teach 18 to 25 year olds in Camden, New Jersey and Kensington area, Philadelphia. I teach entrepreneurship. It's a workforce development program. The average young person comes to us making 300 a year [00:03:00] and leaves with a job paying 45, 000. That's, that's the highlight of

my week. I love teaching. and, as you know, I also love writing, uh, which is why I wrote this book. And there's so much negativity

out there. So much, it seems like animosity that, you know, my mission in writing is to spotlight the positive. There's so many good things going on in the world, but they often fly under the radar and they're not held up for everyone to

Connie Fontaine: Nope. You're absolutely right. We were talking, there was one story in there that, that I, I love the little quotes at the beginning of one of the chapters about, um, the red lights and green lights. When somebody said, ah, I'm always hitting these red lights. And the grandfather says, Yeah, but you never celebrate the green ones.

but that's the truth is it's so easy to look for the bad, but there's more green lights than red metaphorically.

Brad Aronson: Absolutely. I was presenting to this group and at the start of the meeting, the woman running it said, Hey, why doesn't everyone just share something that made you smile this week? And I thought, this is amazing. [00:04:00] So many times I go to a meeting and there's these complaints, you know, I live in Philadelphia.

So people are talking about, Oh, the Eagles, they're awful. Can you believe what happened? The weather's not good, but why not

flip it? and start with stuff we're happy about and set the tone

Harry Cohen: So you have beautifully articulated your mission and your purpose. Say a little bit more about your journey. 

Connie Fontaine: Like, how'd you get so good? How'd you, how'd you, how'd you get to be this great guy? 

Harry Cohen: All right. So I've always had two passions in my life. So when I was younger, I was the kid who had a business shoveling everyone in the neighborhood's driveway. Doing odd jobs. Oh, you need someone to carry your boxes, like hire me. I'll do that job. Uh, and then it was junior high where my mom said, you are so lucky and you need to give back.

Brad Aronson: You need to volunteer somewhere. So I started volunteering with this program called Buddies. It was for little kids who had had some sort of family trouble. So maybe a parent had died or something really bad was happening in their family. And I would just go [00:05:00] and hang out with them once a week. We'd play kickball, we'd play basketball, whatever. And I realized how unfair life can be. These were kids who had done nothing wrong and they were just dealt a bad and unfair hand. And that made me realize. I am so lucky and it drove me to want to give back. And those two passions have basically shaped my life. So I've constantly been starting businesses in college.

I started the student directory business. See that ages me. There were student 

Connie Fontaine: it wasn't. 

Brad Aronson: back then. And we did those for 14 schools. And then at the same time. I ran our local, our area's big brother, big sister program, And then when the internet early days of the internet, I saw this huge opportunity to advertise and market online. And believe it or not, back then I had to convince companies that they should get a website because no one believed it yet. but luckily [00:06:00] I was early on. I found some great team members to work with me and that company grew and grew and eventually we sold it. And at the same time, I was on the board of big brothers, big sisters. I was doing the volunteer stuff. So I had both sides going on. After I sold my business, I decided that I would focus all of my time for almost all of my time on the nonprofit work. Cause I just loved being around young people and I love giving back and because I had been so entrepreneurial I was asked hey, we have this program where we teach underserved kids entrepreneurship Would you mind coming in as a guest speaker? So I came in as a guest speaker, love the class and thought this is what I should be doing. and now I've been doing it for a long time. And not only do I love it, but I think I'm actually good at it as well. And it's a great way to give back and a great way to stay connected and you [00:07:00] realize I'm so lucky like for so many people. There's what I call the zip code lottery. You're born into a certain zip code where there may not be great schools.

There may not be great role models and the opportunities put in front of you are extremely limited. So that's kind of the story. 

Connie Fontaine: I I love I'm so lucky. 'cause, you know, all of us have a dream that our children will say that I'm so lucky. and it means so many different things to so many people, but you're right. It can start with being born in the right zip code. But there are ways that some of us can make a difference when you, when they're not born in the right zip code.

Harry Cohen: So what inspired you to write this book? And what I love about the book besides the stories,

 Every chapter ends with a, here's take 15 minutes and do one of these things. So walk us through both why you wrote it, and how'd you pick out these amazing stories, including the one about our most recent, uh, Commerce secretary.

Brad Aronson: So, [00:08:00] uh, the book, there were a few inspirations for the book. One was the high school graduation of a mentee of mine. So she went to Girard college. It's actually, it is a high school, even though it's called Girard college. It's in Philadelphia. And at her graduation on one side of me sat a 70 something year old man. And he told me that he moved to New York. But since graduating, Gerard, he comes back every single year for graduation because the school changed his life.

And there's this part in the ceremony where everyone sings the school song. and this guy stood up and he's belting it out so proudly. It's like, oh my God, I wanted to hug him.

He reminded me of my grandfather. And then on the other side of me was this mom. And she was crying. She said she thought her daughter would be dead or in jail. And here she was graduating. And the commencement speaker spoke about what an incredible day it was. How because of the zip codes that these students [00:09:00] were from statistically, many of them should have dropped out and very, very few should be going on to college. Yet every single graduating senior had been accepted to college. And then he went on to say, unfortunately, They're accepting this, they're, they're entering this world full of negativity. So you're not going to see anything about Gerard in the news tomorrow, most likely. Now, of course I hear that first thing I do in the morning is I get online.

I look everywhere. There's nothing.

So then after that, I go and I buy our daily newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer. I looked through every page, nothing. And I was thinking, I was an extra in an inspirational movie that was real. And it lifted me up. And I thought of other people knew about these students.

They feel inspired. They know about what they could achieve. Like you hear about these students struggles and what they accomplished. And you can't help but think I could change the world. And then I [00:10:00] decided if I wanted to see these stories out there, I should write about them. So I started writing. Uh, we also had a family health scare. And during that time period, the health care provider said, You spent a lot of time in the hospital. You need a distraction. So you should come up with a project. And my project was, well, I'm going to just write more of these stories and try to pull it all together. Now the question of where I found the stories, I found them everywhere. The most interesting place was I just started asking everyone I met, was there something really tiny that changed your life? And there were so many people who had amazing stories. That I would have never known about. And one example was I'm out pumpkin picking with my son and my wife and our, my friend from high school.

So I've known this guy for decades and he and his wife were there. I'm like, Hey, you know, I'm writing these stories about [00:11:00] small acts of kindness to change people's lives. You know, do you have any that, that you could think of my friend, Alex? I've known forever. So I don't know any and his wife's like, well, you know that Alex every day helps out this older doctor, uh, Wally. And I was like, I have no idea, Alex. How come you never told me? And he's like, well, I just did it for myself and for him. And it's this beautiful story. It's running with Wally. It's in the

book. I never would have known because people are modest about it. And when I asked. You find these one little, these stories with these ripple effects, and then once you start publishing, all these other people will email you with their great stories. And because I'm so engaged with youth non profits, I am around incredible stories all the time. And then, Because this is what I love when I'm reading a book. So for example, I have a story about Jim Abbott in the book and how he's a, he's a famous [00:12:00] baseball player and how his life was changed by a teacher who gave him a lesson in shoe tying. Well, I found that story. Cause I was reading Jim Abbott's memoir, which is an unbelievable read. There's about three lines in the book. About his teacher and the lesson in shoe time and I left and I said that's the story I want to

know about I want to know about his teacher and how it changed his life. his teacher had passed away But I tracked down his teacher's wife and then I talked to some students and and so by looking for it I saw it. A lot of times you see what you look for and that's in your book Be the salt not the sun right you can say

Harry Cohen: the sun, not the salt.

Let me correct. 

Brad Aronson: Not this

I'm, sorry, 

Connie Fontaine: We know what you meant. 

Brad Aronson: I do have it right

Connie Fontaine: we know what you meant. 

Brad Aronson: My apologies.

Uh, but in your book, when you say you can say, Oh, they never called me back because they don't like me, or you could say, Oh, you know what? They must be really busy giving people the benefit of the doubt. We see what we 

Connie Fontaine: Absolutely. 

That point about, we see [00:13:00] what we look for. I was reading your book about, um, look around your. It was the gratitude chapter, but look around your room and then, you know, comment on that which you're grateful for and then look at, look for what's blue and you won't, Oh, I didn't even notice what's blue because you're not looking for it. This point about if we look for it, we can find it. It's so amazing how these little things, these seedlings take time to manifest. But if you look for them, it's, oh my God, And now more than ever looking for the good and we talked a little bit about this this morning as a team while we were talking about all the things we loved and why we've got all these pages bookmarked in your book and we're saying looking for that good. And that's what you went out and did.

And you just talked about some of the examples. I think online. That's the same thing. Let's not let's go look for those positive examples. Let's look for those green lights and not complain about the red lights. And it does make a difference in our day and all the people around us for sure.

Brad Aronson: Yes.

Harry Cohen: And what you have done is [00:14:00] collect all these magnificent stories. You can open up to any story and read one and be inspired. And then, as I said, the end of your chapter is, here's take 15 minutes and do something. Connie was inspired to, Connie, I'll tell you 

Connie Fontaine: Go ahead, 

Harry Cohen: what you were sharing this morning.

No, you say it.

Connie Fontaine: Well, this morning, you know, and one of the things we always love to do is we honor you as our guest by doing different things. And something that I did this morning was I went back to look at the 15 minute reminders at the end of each chapter. This is one of the things I love about the book is that every chapter has some moments to reflect and you used to call it a take 15 minutes and look at this.

And I was looking through today to say, what can I talk to Brad about? What can I do differently today? I want to show him that I'm inspired by the book. And so. Today, I am pleased to say that I actually took less than 15 minutes, took me 12 to go to gift of life dot org so that I am now signed up as part of the bone marrow registry.

And that is in honor of your family and some of the things that you've been [00:15:00] through. And it's also because it's something I could do and I could do it today and easy. And now I've got all these hours left in the day to still do more good. So thank you for that. And that reminder, we'll put that in our show notes.

So our listeners can also think about doing the same or lots of other great things we can do real simply and easily. And the reminder that 

 you can impact the world. We're going to impact the world. That's the Jane Goodall quote that you put at the end. We're going to impact the world anyway today. You're going to decide how you want to impact it. and that's what I did today and was inspired by you.

Brad Aronson: Thank 

Connie Fontaine: very welcome and thank, and it felt good to me too.

And I'm going to tell the story all day so that I can inspire others. And I'm sure I'll get at least a few other donors today.

Brad Aronson: Excellent. 

Harry Cohen: I'm going to do that too. Con 12 minutes. See if I can

do it in 10. 

Connie Fontaine: I challenge you beat that time.

Harry Cohen: by the way, all proceeds of the book Humankind go to Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Philadelphia. Is that correct?

Brad Aronson: Well, half goes to Philadelphia and half goes to big brothers, big sisters of America.

Harry Cohen: love that. So, Mindy [00:16:00] Holman, who's the chairman of the board of, of Holman Enterprises and a Philadelphia based company. Her. Her message to us is, do all the good we can in all the ways that we can, that's chapter one, and be the sun, and it's so consistent, what Connie was talking about in terms of the Jane Goodall quote. We were reviewing What Did You Love About the Book this morning, and both of us dog eared that page. Here's the quote. You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. Ta da! So, Would you mind sharing some of the how This has changed you because one of the things that we talk about is this work, this be the sun, not the salt, this make a difference in the choices that we make isn't just for others. It's for ourselves and we are better people because we [00:17:00] do this. I can say that proudly and I'm almost 70 and I'm amazed that it's taken me this long. To learn some of these things or be, to be reminded of these things and to do these things. Would you mind sharing? I have one of, one about you that you shared from your book. But, well, I'll just tell you now. Mia, your wife, would, quote unquote, remind you, hey, you know, stay in the lane, you know, help you drive by making comments about your driving and you could, you know, find that annoying or your shift in mental

appreciation 

Connie Fontaine: share this. I'd like Brad to share it cause I'm going to play it for my husband.

Brad Aronson: All right. So your husband probably is similar to my wife

Connie Fontaine: No, I'm the, I'm the, I'm the annoying one that has,

Brad Aronson: Oh, okay. Okay. So if you drove with my wife and I and you were in the backseat, you would think that if she wasn't there, I would definitely crash because every second watch out for that. Look over there.

No, no. And and I used to think [00:18:00] somehow it's a miracle that the 99 percent I'm driving time I have without you. I never crash. And then I thought, well, actually, she's trying to keep us 

Connie Fontaine: Right. 

Brad Aronson: And that's awesome that she's trying to keep us safe. Mhm. And all I have to say is thanks for pointing that out. And it was a great way of looking at it because it's what she was trying to do. Uh, and that goes to kind of what you say in your book as well, like giving people the benefit.

And, and we often make assumptions of why people are doing things. And I think we have two options. We can give them the benefit or we can 

Connie Fontaine: Mhm. 

Brad Aronson: hey, I was wondering what you meant by that. And I found that when I ask people so often, perhaps it's because. I'm a harsh critic on myself. I think there's some intention there that's absolutely

not there. And I like to say, we're not psychics.  so if we want to know what someone's thinking, we have to ask them before we make assumptions that are unfair.

Connie Fontaine: Assuming positive intent has [00:19:00] been one of the biggest challenges for me and my personal growth, um, because it is the rethinking and you mentioned this already. Why didn't they call me back? Well, I'm sure it's because I, you know, who knows? Ask, be curious about it. Don't just judge that person.

Harry Cohen: Absolutely.

Brad Aronson: to yourself. Like, I find that someone once said to me, I was like, being harsh on myself. They're like, well, what would you tell a friend going through the same circumstances? And I said, this is what I tell them. And they'd say, well, why don't you give yourself that same advice? You're so hard on yourself. It's similar to what you said in your book. There's a lot of similarities between our philosophies where you say, be your own best friend, right? Why would you treat yourself worse than you treat a best friend? So give yourself the same leeway to make mistakes to, to goof up as you would to

a friend 

Connie Fontaine: learned that, Brad? 

Brad Aronson: the hard way.

Uh, it was, 

Connie Fontaine: hmm. 

Brad Aronson: you know, I think it really clicked. When I was talking to that friend who [00:20:00] said, why are you treating yourself worse than you treat a friend? Like, what would you tell a friend? And it was just, I don't know what it was. That conversation resonated with me and I've never forgotten it, you know?

Harry Cohen: I, I, I find this so fascinating because a lot of these insights that both of us write about, that both of us have been inspired by and remind ourselves and each other. Why do we have to be reminded of that, which we should already know? Well, that's because we're human. Or, you know, you don't step in the same river twice, because the river changes and you're changed, so we can hear something anew for the first time, which is why I love, Both your book and our book.

I reread these chapters every single day, because they're short, to remind me, Oh, right.

Oh, right. Literally what we're talking about, Be Your Own Best Friend, or today's chapter is Release Your Pet Peeves. I was sharing with Connie this morning that I was not [00:21:00] prepared for our morning Zoom, and these are the things that would irritate me. Why aren't, why isn't that person prepared? They know when, why The meeting starts and I cut myself some slack, I released my pet peeve, but the reminder is what I love about your book and our book and we can't be reminded enough. I'm okay with continually reminding, helpful, nudgy reminders.

Connie Fontaine: And that, and the small, the small reminders are just as important. And that's Brad's book. I mean, you celebrate the impact of small choices that we make. And there was something that resonated with me, which I think I knew, but it was a good reminder because I have a tendency to do this. People that are in need or in crisis, a small change is big to them.

Something that I do that, you know, maybe it's not enough money. It's not enough of a gesture. Guess what? It probably is. And to not just assume, but ask if you need to. Um, those quick little nuggets, again, people know that, but it was a really good reminder for me in the book. [00:22:00] 

Harry Cohen: say less is more than you think is one of your chapter titles and it's those tiny, tiny, tiny things. Tiny is even better. The wave. Waving at someone. I do that all the time. And boy, you know what it evokes? It evokes a wave back. And you write about that. The tiniest little, you've got this other one which is, how to not find the silver lining. You know, when someone's going through a difficult time it's so,

Connie Fontaine: you talk about that one, Brad? 

Harry Cohen: common. Yes. 

Brad Aronson: Sure. And so where, where this comes from is because I wrote all these stories about people whose lives were changed by a seemingly trivial act of kindness that had a ripple effect, changing thousands of lives. I interviewed hundreds of people who had their lives changed and they were going through a rough period of time and that taught me a lot.

And one of the things I found is when people are going through a difficult time, [00:23:00] they might have a conversation and share what's going on. And as humans, we want to make them feel better because we are good people. That's our natural reaction. And we might say, don't worry, everything's going to be okay.

Or you're really strong. You're going to get through this. And what I heard from people was. I don't know that everything's going to be okay, and it doesn't make me feel good to hear everything's going to be okay because I don't think it's real. And when someone tells me you're really strong, I'm thinking, I'm about to crack, and now I can't tell you because you just told me I'm strong. And they said all you need to do is say thank you for sharing. Like someone shares that thank you for sharing, or I love you. I'm here for you. Is there anything I can do? and I took this into my teaching. So quite often, my students will share things that are extremely difficult in their lives, and I'd always be thinking, all right, how can I make them feel better?

How can I make them feel better? And now I just say, thank you for sharing. And since saying that every time I get pretty much the same response, like, my student will smile and say, Hey. [00:24:00] Thank you for listening and often we'll give each other a hug, which brings me to another point that it's a gift just to listen so often people can't be heard without someone else saying, Oh, yeah, that reminds me of this story or this happened to me and just listening and when they pause. Count to three in your head. So if they want to keep talking, they can keep talking like that's a gift we can give someone going through a rough time listening and then saying, thank you for

sharing. I appreciate it. I love you. I'm here for

You 

Connie Fontaine: talked about being present. You know, don't just because you don't know what to say. Don't be afraid to just be present anyway. Um, versus shying away from it. And I think there's a lot of great tips in there. You, the ones you just mentioned, but you also talked about one of the things I, I liked was you, you know, don't just say, what can I do for you?

It's, it's kind of a, I would like to do this for you if that works or if that makes sense. Or if you'd like that very specific. And by the way, make it sound like it's going to be easy, I don't want to feel like [00:25:00] I'm putting you out. A lot of us have a tough time asking for help. I know you went through your own family journey on this.

Do you want to share a couple of stories or a couple of inklings of how you got to this point? Mm hmm. 

Brad Aronson: Absolutely. And I'd start by saying when you talk about how it could be small. It really could be small. So I used to work, the digital company I started was a digital ad agency. We did a lot of market research. When we did market research, I can't remember any time that everyone agreed on something. The hundreds of people I interviewed for my book all agreed on something. One of the things that made a difference to them was being seen. And being seen didn't mean talking about what's going on. I think most of them did not want to talk about it with other people. Being seen was as simple as getting a note saying, Hey, I'm thinking of you or I'm sending a hug or a text saying, Hey, just thinking of you. And what I heard was when you're going through this really traumatic and difficult [00:26:00] time, that small gesture gives you the strength to keep going. And so often we think, well, you know, I don't know that person that well, I don't know what to say. I don't want to, I don't, you know, it's awkward. All we have to do is send them a note and say, Hey, I'm thinking of you, I'm sending positivity. It makes a difference. And when I think of the small things, so like when we needed help, I'm like a lot of people, I'm not good at accepting help. I've always been someone who volunteered and people would say, Hey, what could I do for you? I would say I'll get back to you and I never did. And then, but when people stepped up and said, Hey, can I, I'm going to the baseball game, your kid would love to come with me.

Can I take them with me? Or guess what? We're making meatloaf tonight. And we got like a whole extra half of a meatloaf. Can we bring it over? Like it's easy to say yes. And, and instead of saying, Hey, can I pick up some groceries for you? It could be as simple as saying. Hey, [00:27:00] uh, I'm going to Whole Foods. Can I pick something up for you while I'm there

already? Or even better, I'm going to Whole Foods. What can I get you while 

Connie Fontaine: Mm hmm. 

Brad Aronson: Right? Just making it so easy, uh, showing up and shoveling someone's driving. I'm not going to ask you. I'm not going to, I'm just going to show up, shovel it, they're going to come outside and be like, thank heavens, that's taken care of. 

Harry Cohen: The point you're making about making it easy is really important, small and easy. This does not have to be for any of our listeners, anything as dramatic as signing up for the bone marrow transplant thing, or, or committing to a volunteer gig or something that would require more effort than just underlined a text. A wave, 

uh, 

Connie Fontaine: There's no lack of opportunities,

Harry Cohen: there's no 

Connie Fontaine: everywhere around you. And that came from the book as well.

Harry Cohen: So I just, for our listeners to go, yeah, I [00:28:00] could do that right now today.

Brad Aronson: And it's not just we have to find people going through a rough time.

Like, if every day we wake up, when we talked about

you see what you look for, if every day we wake up and say, I'm going to make someone's day better today. We'll do it. And I think of this student of mine. So Karima, she showed me this letter.

She carries around a letter with her every day. And I said, well, tell me about this letter. She said, the teacher gave it to me a few years ago and I just felt appreciated and I want to be reminded. So I bring it with me every day. And then I started asking people, do you have a letter that you hang on to? Everyone I asked has a letter, a note, something they're hanging on to.

Harry Cohen: I have one.

Brad Aronson: Yeah, so what if every day after breakfast, we spent five minutes and send a note to one person telling them why we appreciated them, right? We're going to make their day and man, they might even hold on to that forever. And as you said at the beginning, Connie, [00:29:00] we feel so good when we relive why we appreciate someone. It makes

us feel good because we're reliving it. So everyone benefits. And it's, as you said, it's those little things that are opportunities for us.

Harry Cohen: And this is no matter where you are, no matter who you are, no matter what stage of life you are, no matter what job you're in, every single one of us can do these little things. And the payoff is huge. Your whole book is an articulation of, Oh, and here's another example. Oh, and here's another

Connie Fontaine: Well, and hopefully this conversation makes people feel confident in that because Brad, you're an exemplar. You're somebody that we're holding up to a very high level. You've, you've created this opportunity now out of your success to give even more back. But it's okay if people just give a little, like give what you got.

And I think the example I just realized there's somebody I haven't texted for a while. As soon as we're done, I'm gonna text her. She had a major loss. I check in on her often, but I haven't checked in for over a week. I'm just gonna text her. That's a good reminder. [00:30:00] She's A note, Harry, you've started this little discipline now.

I just ordered some stationary.

Harry Cohen: I just ordered stationery. I sent my first note this week while doing a Zoom. I said, what's your address? He didn't know why I was asking. Wrote the address on the card. And then while sitting there, it didn't take me very long, I wrote my, I appreciate you so much. Sent it in the mail. My very first one. I'll do another one today. I don't know to whom it's going to go. But it's this. Conversation. It's this podcast, this nudgy reminder. Let's do this some more. I'm gonna.

Connie Fontaine: You know, Brad, you were talking about something that I think I resonate that just resonated with me to this, this idea about having a tough time asking for help or accepting it even when it's offered. Did you get better at that through your journey?

Brad Aronson: Yes. Uh, so at first I thought I was going to do everything and, you know, a thoughtful family member pulled me aside and was like, you just, you keep going on this, this path, [00:31:00] you're going to crash and burn and you have to think longterm. And if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of anyone else. And it was really humbling. And it's why it made me, I think, better at giving back. So I was always that person who said to people, let me know what I could do for you. Cause I thought, I don't want to make an assumption. I'll like ask them what they need and do it. And based on my experience, I know that for some people it's easier if you just suggest things like, Hey, as I said, like I'm, I'm out mowing the lawn.

Can you leave your back gate unlocked? And I'm going to come, come by and mow your lawn, whatever it is, but just doing the things. Uh, so it made me a better kid. And I also realized the power. I talked about those little notes when we were going through a rough time. I remember there's one parent who sent me a note and said, you don't know me, but your son is in my, my daughter's kindergarten class. And I heard what's going on. And I just want you to know there's another parent in your [00:32:00] corner. That brought me to tears.

I was like, oh my goodness. Like, that was so thoughtful of her. Because It was such a difficult time and I realized, wow, I could, all I have to do is write a little note

and I could really make someone's day and that's, that's what helped me realize the power and even I was in the hospital one time and there was a woman who was having trouble walking who didn't want any help and one of the nurses walked over and said, you know, I love you.

Can I walk with you? She didn't say, do you need

help? Can I help you? And the woman's like, of course you could walk with me. And the nurse put her arm around her like her friend. And basically helped her walk. Uh, and I thought that was an amazing

Connie Fontaine: hmm. Mm 

Brad Aronson: help that someone needed. But really didn't want to ask

for and didn't want to 

Connie Fontaine: hmm. Yeah, I 

Harry Cohen: such a subtle

change, the subtle word shift, the subtle tiny change

Connie Fontaine: Do you need 

me? Yeah, 

not as 

Harry Cohen: [00:33:00] Let me walk 

with 

Connie Fontaine: this for you? I love that.

Harry Cohen: And, and I'm now doing that like, like nobody's business when I see someone, I said, can I, here, let me, let me grab that for you. you.

know, not, the difference isn't, you know, do you need help with that?

Can I grab that for you? And I'm like, all right, sure, here, you can take that. It's such a good feeling. But

Connie Fontaine: that you were the people who loved you. That was their only way of helping. So they wanted. So it's like you started to probably see it in their eyes that you were actually making a difference for them, too, because it was something that they could do in that moment of need.

Heh heh heh

Brad Aronson: someone said to me, you know, if you were really nice, you would let me do something.

Uh, and I thought you're a hundred percent right. I'm not giving you a chance to do anything. Uh, and you know, obviously you could probably tell them a person who needs people to

directly tell me what I should be doing.

It's, it's helpful, but right. It, it [00:34:00] was That way where like it's a gift for us to allow someone to be helpful because they want to do it and it's their way To do something and I also found that for me in writing When I like when you're going through a tough situation, you could always be asking why me? Why is this happening to me? Why my family this is so unfair But if instead so in writing the book I also wrote about all the kind acts that people did for me And during that period when, you know, we were going through our health issues and I'm writing that I actually felt lucky, which is crazy because, you know, we're going through a tough time, but you can reflect on everything people's doing for you and it gives you strength and you realize you have a support group and you're not alone and there's good in the world instead of sitting there thinking, you're not alone.

Why 

Connie Fontaine: Yes. It's that gift of love that came that went back and forth between you because I'm trying to get to the realization for people. We, we have to get over ourselves. Everyone needs to [00:35:00] accept help. Um, and I wouldn't say if you were nicer, you'd tell me what I could do. I don't know if I'd say that, but now I know that that's what I want.

I want to, I want to be able to please, I'm not finding the right way to help you. Can you help me help you? I mean, maybe there's something in there, but, but it's definitely something for all of us to learn.

Harry Cohen: I, I want people to hear this conversation and be more comfortable. Being vulnerable and authentic in the expressions of their own difficulty, so that we can allow people to be there for us. When I went through my most difficult times, the sweetest time was my weeping on the shoulder of, of dear friends, which was, giving them the opportunity to just be there for me. And people don't want to quote unquote burden people with their pain. It's not a burden. [00:36:00] You know, you shared with so many people the difficulties that your family went through, which allowed all of those people to, to be there for you and your family and extended family. Yeah,

Brad Aronson: Yeah, and taught us how to be there for other people.

Harry Cohen: exactly.

Connie Fontaine: We can do that more and more every day. Is there anything else in the book that you feel this is something like, this is an opportunity for you. We, we want to make sure that we're your biggest supporters and we want to get the word out. And partly because it helps we, as Harry said, we're looking to grow every day.

So this has helped us. We've shared a couple of nuggets, but I've got even more written down of things that I'm going to do differently this week. So, um, that's the gift that you gave to me. Is there anything else you'd like to share with our, our audience that you hope they get from the book?

Brad Aronson: Well, I'll, I'll ask you, would you prefer, like, if you have a favorite story, I could share a favorite story from the book, [00:37:00] or I could share some advice from the book. Which, which do you think would be better for your

Connie Fontaine: I feel and I I, mean, I think this,

Harry Cohen: want both. Can I have both,

Connie Fontaine: yeah. And

Brad Aronson: and do you want to choose the story?

Connie Fontaine: no, I want you to 

Harry Cohen: You choose the story and 

you choose 

Brad Aronson: It's hard because there's so

Connie Fontaine: Love all your children. I 

Harry Cohen: Well, people say, what's your favorite chapter? Oh, what's your favorite kid? You know, I got a lot.

Brad Aronson: So I'm going to tell the story of Gabriel because it has a lot to do with how we look at things, which is what we talked about already. So when Gabe, so this is a story, Gabriel, when he was six years old, his mom was tucking him into bed. And she said, Gabriel, you're healthy. Everything's great. But November 3rd is coming up.

And it's a very sad day for me. I'm letting you know so that when you see me, and I'm sad, you know it has nothing to do with your health. The reason it was a sad day for her, was because A few years earlier, Gabriel had [00:38:00] been diagnosed with a disease on November 3rd, and he had gone through two years of treatment. He was cured, but that day always weighed heavily on Natasha. And Gabriel said, Mom, why can't we turn that day from a day of darkness into a day of light? And, uh, we could make it like Secret Santa Day. And here's, here's the history of Secret Santa in their family. One Christmas while the family, while Gabriel was in treatment, The family found a pile of presents on the porch. And they were presents for Gabriel and his sister. And the note said, Merry Christmas, love secret Santa. And Gabriel's mom, Natasha told me she pinned that note on the refrigerator. And she said, almost every night at dinner, the family talked about it. They talked about how they couldn't believe someone did that for them. And they couldn't believe they never found out who it was. It's still a mystery to them. Uh, and then of course, when next year's Christmas rolled around, [00:39:00] they decided to be secret Santas. And the tradition was the family would pick out people in the neighborhood who they thought could use a boost, and then Gabriel, his mom, and his grandma would sneak over to their houses and leave presents. From Secret Santa and the first year they did that Gabriel discovered that he loved giving out gifts even more than he loved getting them. And the family talked about how wonderful it was, how it made all of them feel amazing. And now what Gabriel was saying is November 3rd has been this sad day. Let's do nice things for

other people like Secret Santa Day because it'll make us feel good.

And mom, can we invite our family to do this with us? And she said, okay, you know, we'll make a little video. And she took out her video and Gabriel said, I want to turn November 3rd from a dark day into a day of light. So please do something nice for someone else. [00:40:00] And she emailed it to a dozen friends and family. And one of the family members said, Could you put it on our Facebook page? Because then we could, you know, type in what we did. And Natasha does it. Gabriel's going nuts. Oh my goodness, it's on Facebook, it's going to be huge. And Natasha's trying to set his expectations. We told 12 people. Not all of them are going to do it. It's going to be what it's going to be. But they ask people if you do a kind act, please give the person a card or if it's digital, let them know that you're doing this for Gabriel's Day of Kindness and what the day is about and put in this little website address and ask the person if they do a kind deed, maybe they can include the card in the note as well. So the day comes, Natasha and her family, they live in Boston. The first kind deed comes from Wisconsin, then Florida, then all 50 states, then Armenia, Czech Republic, France, and 53 other countries. This went global because a six [00:41:00] year old asked, why not? And. Of course, Gabriel and his family also participated. They went to the hospital where he was treated and gave out toys to kids who were in treatment there. They went to the bank that was really nice to their family during his treatment and gave out thank you notes and donuts. They put together hygiene bags with gift cards for people who are homeless. And that night they went out to eat. They anonymously paid for the meal of a table next to them. And when the waiter gave the table the Gabriel's Day of Kindness card, the table paid for the next table. And that kept going table after table after

table until Gabriel's dad said, We gotta go home or we're gonna be here all night. And they get home and Gabriel says, Mom, Mom, is it? Is it still a dark day? No, it's not. This was a great day. That's awesome, Mom. Can we do it again tomorrow? No, we can't do it tomorrow. Can we do it next year? Yes, we [00:42:00] can do it next year. And that's how Gabriel's Day of Kindness Became an annual global kindness day with thousands of kind deeds done around the world. And Natasha heard from seven other families so far who said they created their own day of kindness to turn their child's diagnosis day into a day of

Connie Fontaine: I love that story.

Harry Cohen: I just listened to that yesterday. I was listening to your book and literally just listened to it yesterday. So I already knew where it was going, but it's a beautiful, tiny example of. Go. Changing the world one small act at a time, but it changes us

Connie Fontaine: Well, and the mindset, the mindset of let's, let's turn darkness into light. There's a way there's always a way. Wow.

Harry Cohen: Exactly, 

Connie Fontaine: story. 

Harry Cohen: So now give us, now give us some advice. Give our listeners some advice, and us too.

Brad Aronson: So, you know, I would say the, the most common [00:43:00] theme is do something.

We are hesitant. We hold ourselves back. If we look at kids, kids are so natural. They see a need, they don't hesitate. They're not worried. They go out and they hug their friend. They help their friend. Uh, and we need to have that. Like that makes a huge difference. Other things I heard, and this is a small learning I had. I thought, wow, this, this was. Eye opening for me. If someone's going through a rough time, uh, or let me take a step back in the U. S. When we see people, a greeting we use is often. Hey, how you doing? We say that we don't even expect a response, right?

If someone stops to have a conversation, we're like, come on, right? You think people are gonna say fine and keep going. But when someone's going through a hard time, what I heard was, well, they don't want me to say things are going bad, but I don't want to lie. And they're, they're really, it's like a stressful

thing.

Hey, how you doing? So, if we know someone's going through a rough [00:44:00] time, all we have to say is. Hey, it's great to see you because it is great to see them and we're not adding any 

Connie Fontaine: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. 

Brad Aronson: We're just being there for them.

Connie Fontaine: In each of the chapters you give some of these tips and that's part of what I, it's such an actionable book because it's chock full of great stories that make you cry and make you smile, but you also get to what can we do or what is it, what, yeah, can we, what can we do in each chapter and then the take 15 minutes at the end.

So that was another really good example that I got out of the book is it's really great to see you.

Harry Cohen: yeah. One thing that I do when people, you know, when I say, you know, Do you have any children? If I'm checking with someone I don't know, and they tell me who their kids, you know, they have kids. And I will often say, is everybody okay now? The reason I asked that is because sometimes, you know, it's, they're not. And sometimes there are, but if they're not, I say, look, I just want you to know, man, I understand.

I understand. [00:45:00] And it's really lovely

Connie Fontaine: And you already have that understanding that they know you already know the situation and that you, because I think you're often a, um, you're brought in as kind of like a trusted expert and friend. You know, they know you're going to have some, some wisdom that comes from your, you know, your background and everything you've done with your life scholastically.

So I think you're more often to have that. A lot of times I don't. They don't, I can't relate to the problem, the idea. And so they do really just want to hear from me. It's great to see you and then they'll take it from there.

Harry Cohen: But I always want to just let people

know that I just that I know that sometimes our kids go through difficult times from, you know hospitalization to just a difficult time. And knowing that it's not always okay, sometimes people go through difficult times, just you know, I'm there for you, what you talk about, just so you know I'm there for you, is a helpful, lovely, easy thing [00:46:00] that any of our audience can do. can remember to do. Hey man, just so you know, I'm there for you. Now, this is an odd question, so I feel a little goofy even asking it.

Did 

Brad Aronson: All right.

Harry Cohen: so, um, did, did Be the Sun, Not the Salt do anything for you?

Brad Aronson: Yes. I loved it it's it's so what I loved about it is it's short but has so many ideas in it and Like every page is a new idea about how I could be a better person. And similar to what you said, we need reminders. There's so much negativity around us that having those reminders are incredible. And it's interesting because Richard, our mutual friend was telling me how he's starting to implement, like take one point from the book and talk about it every day with his team at work and how just having those conversations. He sees the [00:47:00] team doing more to be a great team, to be a caring team. And I think we should be talking about this and we should be consciously thinking about how can we do it? Like what better use of our time than thinking about how we could be a better friend, a better contributor, a better person.

Connie Fontaine: And someone that's such an exemplar like you Brad bless you.

Brad Aronson: Thank you. Excuse me.

Connie Fontaine: no problem.

Harry Cohen: Bless you, bless 

Connie Fontaine: and sneezing. It's fine. Bless you. 

Um, you know, you're such an exemplar. Do you, I mean, the point you made is we're even as good as you are. We're still have room to do a little bit better every day. Do you make it a practice?

Do you find a way that you put that into practice every day?

Brad Aronson: Yes,

 and I need to because I'm human.

So sometimes I'll get really frustrated and I'll remind myself What's the intention of the person what they're doing might be frustrating me, but they're not trying to and [00:48:00] Sometimes especially when you're in a rush or I'll talk about myself when I'm in a rush. I am less likely to To stop and you think, okay, I tell the story in the book how I'm rushing to this big brothers, big sisters meeting. I'm going to be late. So I hop in the elevator and someone else is coming, but I kind of let the elevator door closed because I don't want to be late. And I'm like, how crazy is this?

I'm going to a meeting to make the world a better place. And I'm letting the elevator shut on someone because I don't want to be late.

Connie Fontaine: We all 

Brad Aronson: Shame on me. I'm a little bit embarrassed to be sharing that

Connie Fontaine: No, we all, yep. 

Brad Aronson: but especially when

Connie Fontaine: Mm hmm. 

Brad Aronson: just to realize an extra

minute isn't the 

Connie Fontaine: Mm hmm. 

Harry Cohen: I literally, I, I, uh, highlighted that literal phrase this morning wanting to bring it up because it's so obvious and so simple, which is the point of both of our books. Much of this is obvious, but perhaps not so obvious that it's reminding function. I know I'm less likely to be kind and thoughtful when I'm rushing, but being aware of my tendency to be less [00:49:00] polite when I'm rushing has proved to be helpful. Ta da!

Connie Fontaine: Ta

Brad Aronson: And what's also critical that I don't think people realize, so in capturing the stories in the book, these tiny things had such a massive impact. So there's Luis, who's in the book, Who's dedicated his life to helping young people in need, and he's changed thousands of lives. That entire reason why he does it was a single conversation he had with the teacher. That single conversation is why thousands of kids lives are changed. And there's Ricardo, who, uh, he is changing thousands of lives as well, through his restaurant, through his philanthropy. And that all happened because of a stranger who introduced Ricardo to someone because he heard Ricardo needed a job, didn't even know Ricardo, [00:50:00] introduced him, Ricardo got the job, changed his life, now he's giving back in all these ways. And for me, all these stories in the book about these small acts that I could do that had this ripple effect changing thousands of lives, that would make me tear up thinking about, I can't believe what it did. It empowers me and I hope it empowers readers to look at, okay, we can really change

the world. 

Harry Cohen: And

Connie Fontaine: We talked about one of these things today that you kind of changed the world in this weird kind of way. And the Howard, is it Howard Blutnick story? So I knew a little bit, 

And then you read the story in your book, which for some reason I had never heard. This is an example that I was thinking about when I was paging through the book again this week And for listeners, Howard Lutnick was just tapped Secretary of Commerce in the new administration.

And I think there's lots of opportunities that we have in this world, depending on what side of the. political spectrum you're on, you can look for all the bad, and in this case, since he's being tapped by the incoming administration, it's real easy to automatically dislike him if you dislike [00:51:00] that side, but I don't know, there's nothing bad I could find out of this story with Howard Lutnick, and I, I look at him in a way that that I am proud to see somebody who's done so much great work coming into such an important role. So again, look for the good. And Howard Lutnick is good. 

Harry Cohen: I had the same reaction. you know, I know about the story and, and yet I didn't know the full story. And I have a completely different view of this particular billionaire after reading your book, which says to me, Oh my goodness, if we knew more about people's goodness, how good it would be. And

Connie Fontaine: Can you share a version of that story 

Brad Aronson: absolutely. 

uh, when Howard was a freshman at Haverford college, uh, he went to college, uh, one of his parents was already deceased and in his freshman year, right at the beginning, his other parent died and he and his sister, Went home to try to pull things together. They were now had no parents and [00:52:00] the family did not want to take them in other family members because they thought we're just going to get stuck with these extra kids and Haverford called the president Haverford and said, Howard, I don't know you. We heard what happened. Your college is paid for. You don't have to worry about anything, which was a contrast to his sister, whose college said, you know, we found all these jobs you can get, and you could still pay your tuition. Uh, so Howard came back to college. Uh, they covered everything. They opened their arms to him. And after college, he got into finance. And he was running Cantor Fitzgerald, a large financial services company. When 9 11 happened, he was dropping his son off at his first day of kindergarten and terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center. And his company, his New York office, almost [00:53:00] everyone perished. In that, in that plane crash, uh,

Harry Cohen: as I recall. 

Brad Aronson: they were at towards the top. He ran, he, as soon as he heard about it, he, everyone else was running away from the towers. He went there and was asking, where's my people? Did any of them make it? And yeah, their whole office was destroyed. They had no way to communicate.

So he got on TV and said, if you're a part of our company, you're out there. We're having this conference call. Here's the number to call in. And when people called in, he said, what do we do? We lost all of our employees almost in New York. They still had some employees elsewhere. Do we carry forward? And if we carry forward, the only reason I'm doing it is to help the families. We're going to carry forward to pay, pay them money to cover their health care. And everyone said, that's what we're going to do. So they had this backup office in Jersey city. And the thing was, all the passwords were lost [00:54:00] and the backups of everything was buried under the

other tower. So it was lost. So Microsoft sent over a plane load of programmers to break into their own systems and get the passwords. Cisco sent trailers of equipment so as they were rebuilding the tech people could be like we need this thing and someone from Cisco could run in the trailer and bring out the equipment. And they rebuilt, and Howard's sister ran the foundation that provided health care, finance, benefits to all those employees.

And

it wasn't

Connie Fontaine: The families that were 

Brad Aronson: and the families the families of the deceased employees. And it wasn't easy because while they were down, their competitors thought they could steal all the business. And they were building these competing sources. So what they did is they managed bond trading through their technology and their competitors like, we have this new system. And Howard was like, all right, we're so low staffed. We'll tell clients we can only do one trade at a time. [00:55:00] And he said, he had this super huge company call and say, we're using you. You're going to do all our trades. And he said, I can't do all your trades. We just don't have the infrastructure. And the woman on the phone said, we decided as a board, we love what you're doing.

We want to support the families of your employees. And they gave him that business and other people gave him this business. And Cantor Fitzgerald rose from the ashes and supported the families of everyone. And that was their mission. And when I asked Howard, you know, what inspired you to do this? He said, Haverford college taught me when I was 17 years old, what you do when catastrophe happens. And when this happened, it devastated me. And I said, I'm not going to miss a chance to do what I've learned is the right thing to [00:56:00] do.

Connie Fontaine: And I read that story and I still cry when I hear it, but Harry and Ashley know I'm a crier. So, but that the meaning behind that, and part of what I was so fascinated in reading it in real time is what's happening in the world. So his name is out there and it's being associated with, if you, if you life, depending on what side of the fence you're on with politics, you might dislike him because of who he's associated with.

And I'd say look for the good because how can I ever not support a man who lives his legacy trying to support the families of people who were lost that day. Good on him.

Harry Cohen: good on them. So there's, so thank you for bringing

that up, Con, and thank you for sharing that. I want to make sure that we get this in, which is your final chapter, which is catch a wave or start one. And you have this unknown quote. There was an older couple who had a very loving relationship and were admired by everyone around them. At one point, an observer said, I hope in thirty years, [00:57:00] my marriage has as much passion as yours. And the man replied, Don't hope, decide.

Connie Fontaine: love that.

Harry Cohen: the point, which is, let's decide. Let's just go forth and make our days, our relationships, our worlds as good as they can by continuing to To your point, Connie, and your point, Brad, look for the good and water those seedlings. Do more of that. When you see goodness, do it some more. When you do goodness, do it some more. When you hear about goodness, tell it some more. How can we go wrong?

Connie Fontaine: Do you have someone in your life, um, over the period of time that you would just love to do a shout out for being someone who's just really heliotropic, somebody who brings light into the, world and into those around him.

Brad Aronson: Maybe I could give a shout out to a few people. It's hard to do just one, but I'll keep it short. I'm gonna give it a shout out to my wife [00:58:00] because didn't sign up to try to mentor as many young people as she could. That's my passion. But she has opened our house when people have needed a place to live. She has opened our kitchen. She has supported our And I say our because we're doing it together. All, like all the young people that we have in our lives, like, like all in. And she, you know, as one of my friends said, she never signed up for that, but she is on board. She is like the support. It couldn't happen without her. And I love that about her. I'll also give a shout out to my dad because he is the nicest guy. No, I remember as a kid being in the grocery store and someone was stopping me and saying, are you Joe Aronson's son? And I was like, Oh yes. Your dad's the nicest guy I know. And people would drop off presents at our house because he was an accountant and he'd do taxes for some folks and not charge them any [00:59:00] money. Cause. You know, they might not be in a position to pay. So we had all this stuff in the basement. I'm like, dad, what do you do with this? Like, well, you know, they gave it to me. And so I wanted to accept it because I did their taxes. And it wasn't until years later that I realized he's doing their taxes for free. And this is their way of saying thanks. And then the last person I want to give a shout out to is our mutual friend, Richard, because he is so positive and the way he looks at life and how he lives his life. Is a model for me. Like I've learned so much from him and think I want to be more like him. I hope my son Is like him, so those are I can go on and on but thank you for letting me

Connie Fontaine: I love that. You know, I'm going to give a shout out to you and Mia cause you're, you're doing, there's so many great stories in there about what great parents you are and they're there at the very end of the book. I love this conversation between Mia and Jack when Mia says, what's the plan today? And Jack says to be awesome.

I think there's no [01:00:00] better way. If you're my kids are saying to be awesome every day, that's a great way to know that you're doing the right thing. So thank you for being such great parents and sending Jack out into the world.

Harry Cohen: Absolutely,

and I so appreciate you and the work you do, and I can't wait to thank Richard for bringing us together and remind us that some seeds take longer to sprout. He gave me this book, I think two years ago, And here we are now. 

Connie Fontaine: That's right. And just to remind everybody that's humankind changing the world one small act at a time. I bought mine on Amazon. 

 like I said, it will bring you tears and laughter and everything else and more importantly, inspire you to do some good today.

Brad Aronson: Thank you so much for having me on your podcast I really appreciate it and thank you for all the good you do in the world and the good you've put out in your book.

Harry Cohen: You're so welcome, brother. 

Connie Fontaine: Thank you.

Harry Cohen: So welcome. [01:01:00]