Dear Friends,

Almost 10 years ago, I recorded the first episode of The Wonder-full Podcast, which turned into Humanize Me the following year. Over the course of the roughly 230 episodes that followed, you and I have enjoyed talking to scientists, artists, community builders, influencers, authors, and each other about how to make the most of this life by building loving relationships, cultivating our senses of wonder and gratitude, and making meaning by making things better for other people. Frankly, engineering that shared journey with my dear friend John Wright has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. So then, I think it is quite fitting that in this final episode, John helps me explain why that journey must come to an end.

What is impossible to explain, I’m afraid, is the deep gratitude I am feeling for each and every one of you listeners, and especially to those who have actively supported the podcast with your encouragement, ideas, and financial support. As you’ll hear, both John and I hope this isn’t the last time we dust off our mics and fire up that Humanize Me theme song, but in the meantime we want you to know that the podcast feed with all its episodes, along with the website, social media accounts and Facebook Group will all stay live, so that old friends can come back for a visit and folks like us can stumble onto our kind of hope. To that end, we've pulled together a short list of all-time favorites at HumanizeMePodcast.com.

Please feel free to reach out to me at BartCampolo.org if you’ve got a question or a story, or just want to share what the podcast has meant to you. Rest assured, I’ll be thrilled to hear from you. After all, my ankles are creakier, my public profile is lower, and my wee bit of hair is seriously gray, but my commitment to building and maintaining humanizing connections hasn’t waned a bit. Thank you so much for listening to John and me over these years. One way or another, I have a hunch we’ll see you again… on Humanize Me.

Much love,

Bart

Brian McLaren's new book defines 'doom' as, "The psychological sense that we know our problems are bigger than our solutions." In this episode, he and Bart talk about their fears for the future, a potential collapse in our way of life, how they think about 'hope', and what kinds of things are likely to help people in the worst-case scenarios.

As Brian warns in his book, this is not a conversation for those who aren't already in a fairly secure place emotionally or psychologically.

"Bart, in your episode with Devin Moss you mentioned envying his role as a humanist chaplain for someone on death row, because he could throw himself into totally being there for that man, knowing it was only for a limited amount of time. That sounded easier to you than committing to love a needy person with lots of life ahead of them. That one strange comment has raised a lot of questions for me: Do we really have to be there for someone throughout every stupid thing they do? Why can't we just be there for an episode or two and then move on? Why can't somebody else step up once in a while? ... Obviously, we all have limited amounts of time, energy and emotional capacity. Essentially, I guess I'm asking: what do you think are the limits of our responsibilities to others?"

Bart and John discuss.