You won't believe the progressive puppeteers behind the Ferguson protesters

The progressive playbook pretty much demands that the left fund activists and radicals and pass it off as good old grassroots organizing. So are you surprised to find out that Islamists, Communists, and anti-American activists are all uniting in Ferguson? And - shock of shocks - George Soros himself has funded groups in Ferguson through his Open Society Foundation. John Cardillo joined Glenn at the chalkboard to lay out all the connections no one else is reporting.

Watch a highlight of this segment below or sign up and watch the full thing on TheBlaze TV.

Glenn: All right, I want to reintroduce you to John Cardillo. He is a Blaze contributor, investigative blogger at JohnCardillo.com, President of PsyID, and we have had him on the show. You’ve been on the show several times, John, and I wanted to talk to you, because we reached out to you because what PsyID does is you look at…you can crunch the numbers on the Internet. You can look at Facebook and Twitter and everything else, and you can find original sources of things. You can find where the fires are burning and who started the fire.

John: Right. That’s a good way to put it, yes.

Glenn: Okay, so my question was radical Islamists, anti-Israel people, Communists, Socialists, will work together to destabilize Europe and the Western world, so now we’re looking at Ferguson. That fits into the Western world, and I wanted to know where is this push coming from, this anti-police push? Because I don’t believe that it’s actually ground, grassroots. So, I asked you to go in and look, who is starting the fire, and boy—

John: It’s interesting, isn’t it?

Glenn: It is.

John: Well, you’re right. It’s the Islamists. It’s the Communists. It’s the anti-Americans, and it’s funded by a guy we all know, George Soros.

Glenn: What a surprise.

John: To the tune of $33 million that we can find.

Glenn: Okay. So, tell me, take me through the chalkboard and show me what you found.

John: Okay, let’s walk through it.

Glenn: You started with the two main guys.

John: Started with two main guys, so the two main guys we started with was a guy named DeRay McKesson and a guy named Shaun King.

Glenn: Can I start here? #BlackLivesMatter and #HandsUpDontShoot, those are the two things that everybody knows.

John: Everyone knows them, two most predominant hashtags, used quite often by both of these guys. DeRay McKesson is an interesting guy, well-educated guy, Bowdoin graduate. He’s more of what I call third-generation social justice warrior. Let’s call him SJWIII.

Glenn: Okay.

John: So, he’s really vocal on social media, and he’s out there coordinating, conversing with all the usual suspects, now, most often with the sympathetic media, and I picked these four people in particular, Wesley Lowery, Charles Blow, Melissa Harris-Perry, Michael Eric Dyson. They have been about the most forward vocal when it comes to the Ferguson protests, the New York City protests, etc. So, let’s say they are fanning these flames down here. This guy, Shaun King, has become an absolute pro at using GoFundMe and Internet fundraising for the families. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of questions about where the money goes after he raises this money.

Glenn: Okay.

John: There have been some questions about certain families about Haiti earthquake relief all around Shaun King’s Internet fundraising efforts. One lawyer consistently comes out and defends him, but I haven’t seen a real audit done on any of this money, so it’s sort of a he said, she said at this point.

Glenn: Okay.

John: So, as you start digging a little deeper into these guys, some interesting things start to happen. I’m going to pop up to the top and show you how this all sort of connects. As all this stuff came to a head back in November, of all groups, SEIU, and I know you’ve spent a lot of time—

Glenn: I know them quite well.

John: You know them real well. SEIU sends out a press release encouraging everybody…now, I want to back up. You know how all these groups say we’re independent, we don’t work in concert with one another?

Glenn: Yes.

John: SEIU sends out a press release telling everybody to go to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network’s Get Out the Vote rally in Ferguson, Missouri. They even go so far as to link to NAN, the National Action Network, in the press release. So, the press release goes down. Who speaks at the National Action Network conference? Sure, Al Sharpton’s people do, but so does the son of Elijah Muhammad, the founder of the Nation of Islam.

Glenn: Wow.

John: In fact, he’s one of the keynote speakers. Let’s go back a little bit again. I find DeRay McKesson Tweeting at the beginning of this with this guy who has been in the news recently. This guy is a guy named John C. Muhammad.

Glenn: This is the guy who’s like in the government, the local government, right?

John: Yes, little town called Upland Park, Missouri, five miles from Ferguson, yeah, 4.8 miles from Ferguson. He called himself a city manager, city administrator. Today I saw him called a city clerk. It really doesn’t matter, because what’s really important about this guy is this guy alleged that it was a false flag, that the KKK shot the police officers in Ferguson.

Glenn: Right.

John: What’s even more interesting about this guy, and here’s where nuance becomes important, he Tweets in concert with Jeff City, @JeffCity NOI, in other words, at Jefferson City, Missouri, Nation of Islam’s official account. That in of itself, coincidental? Well, maybe, maybe not. He’s in the area. We know he’s a member of the Nation of Islam because he promotes a foundation founded by Elijah Muhammad. What became very interesting to me is when I started analyzing speeches Farrakhan recently made, one particularly inflammatory speech, Farrakhan was talking about teaching children how to throw Molotov cocktails at the police.

Glenn: I had heard that speech.

John: You heard that speech? Okay, in that speech, Farrakhan refers to Ferguson mistakenly as Jefferson, which put a light bulb off in my head that the Jeff City chapter of the Nation of Islam coordinating with this guy, why would he make the mistake unless he’s getting reports from that chapter on the unrest in Ferguson? So, now when you start to put all of this together, what starts to shake out becomes pretty scary, because it’s very well-organized in a truly professional political sense. You’ve got the National Action Network which has been incredibly effective as a political and PR wing, typically engaging in shakedown and smear.

Glenn: Uh huh.

John: You’ve got Nation of Islam which appears to be acting as the muscle, because they’re also bringing in elements of the new Black Panther party. You know, Malik Shabazz was one of their guys, Black Panther guy.

Glenn: Right.

John: And you’ve got the SEIU handling all the organization.

Glenn: Holy cow.

John: So, they find the people to get on the buses, National Action Network. They put the muscle to protect the people on the buses, and they actually find the buses and get them from point A to point B. So, now you’ve got a very concerted effort. You’ve got the social justice warriors on social media getting this message out exponentially further than these guys ever could’ve done on their own. Well, something really interesting happened.

Glenn: Okay, let me take a break because I want to hear the something interesting happens. Then I want you to take me to how do you know the 33 million from Soros and then the pro-Palestinian, because that is really playing a very big role. We’ll do that when we come back.

[BREAK]

Glenn: All right, let’s pick it right back up where you were. You said the interesting thing.

John: So, interesting and really quick, in December after that Get Out the Vote little meeting when these guys all spoke, there’s a rally in D.C. DeRay McKesson and his grassroots crew go there thinking they’re going to speak alongside everybody. Well, Al Sharpton says, “Not so fast. You’ve got to pay for VIP access,” because he’s getting a little bit more popular. Sharpton actually called security on these guys on the McKesson 3.0.

Glenn: That’s what’s happening.

John: And literally turns the mic off on the ones that are able to make it to the stage. So, there’s an interesting little rift now developing. Jesse Jackson is sort of hanging out the middle with the Rainbow Push Coalition. He’s…let’s call him a COO type for all of this right now.

Glenn The elder statesman of radicals.

John: Exactly, the elder statesman. Now, we know Soros is funding this because of his tax returns. We can find through two of his foundations. It’s the Open Societies Foundation and Drug Policy Alliance. We can see 33 million going into those that directly trickle down to this.

Glenn: Have you checked anything on Tides Foundation?

John: Not yet.

Glenn: Okay, can you look into that?

John: Certainly.

Glenn: Because the Tides Foundation I bet you has millions. Can you imagine if the Tea Party would have ever, ever, total would have received $33 million, what it could have done? That’s enormous amounts of money.

John: But remember, Glenn, this is 33 million we know of from the hundreds of millions that have come in.

Glenn: From the one guy.

John: From one guy.

Glenn: Yeah.

John: I mean, Tides is on the list. I just couldn’t get to it. The voluminous information, by the time I had to get here to Dallas, I just couldn’t push through it all.

Glenn: Okay.

John: Okay, so now here again for the sinister angle of it all, so we know all these players, all pretty bad guys in their own right. Enter the pro-Palestinian group. Now, you’ve got a journalist, Rania Khalek.

Glenn: From where?

John: She’s just a pro-Palestinian journalist about the world.

Glenn: Okay, freelancer.

John: Yeah, exactly, freelancer. This guy, Bassem Masri, who’s another just sort of agitator, civil unrest kind of guy, pro-Palestinian, and Method Man from the Wu-Tang Clan, which I did not realize had a song back, way back when they were popular called PLO Style.

Glenn: Oh yeah.

John: Yeah, and so she believes that the shots were actually aimed at the protesters, that this is all nonsense.

Glenn: Last week’s shots.

John: Last week’s shots, that those cops were hit by accident. He, like this guy, Muhammad, believes that it was false flag, believes that white supremacists or the KKK shot the cops to blame the protesters. Method Man says, “Too bad, cops. You reap what you sow.” All three of them tie back and say but this is just like the poor Palestinians, meaning all that aggression from those evil Israelis.

Glenn: Zionist evil, Jewish plot.

John: Zionist evil, Jewish plot, and they’re behind this. In reality, what appears to be happening, my law enforcement sources, intelligence sources, feel it’s information and intelligence sharing. They’re learning from what’s going on in Gaza and other places how to create more unrest here, and these guys are learning from them how to take tactics used in the Middle East and bring them to Ferguson.

Glenn: John, how hard was this to find?

John: Not hard to find, a little bit labor-intensive, but it’s out there. It’s out there.

Glenn: Okay, so come on back and have a seat. You have anything else?

John: No.

Glenn: Okay, come on back and have a seat. So, why isn’t anybody doing this?

John: Because they’re afraid to tell the story. They don’t want to tell it. It’s not politically correct. It doesn’t fit the narrative. It’s not a story that they want getting out. You’ve got New York Times and MSNBC on that board. They don’t want to tell that story.

Glenn: And the Washington Post.

John: And the Washington Post, I’m sorry, yes. They don’t want to show that their people are complicit in fanning those little flames down there.

Glenn: Okay, when I was out in Silicon Valley last week, they talked to me about how the world organizations are getting flatter and flatter and flatter. They said it’s really about the connections and how many people you can connect to. That’s what this is. That’s what SEIU, that’s why NAN and SEIU are so important, because they have all of those union people, okay?

John: Thousands and thousands and thousands.

Glenn: So, help me out. What should the average person do? Because the best way, I mean, especially with the way Facebook runs their algorithms. I’ve got people 3 million people on my Facebook page, but I can post this, and maybe only 350,000 of them will actually see this. Even though they like my page, they don’t see everything that I’ve done. So, what I’ve been trying to figure out is how do we get the information out more? How do we spread…those people who like my page, how do they get this information out and how do others make fatter connections?

John: I love Twitter as a tool for that. It’s hitting a broader audience in real time, and it’s hitting it with more frequency. You can constantly get this information out. TheBlaze Twitter is great. I pick up a lot of my news from TheBlaze Twitter, and I can pick up the evolution of a story throughout the day on TheBlaze Twitter. So, I think that’s an outstanding tool. I’m out there. People like myself, people like you, we’re out there Tweeting this all day long, and I think this is where the blogger army comes into play. When you’ve got thousands and thousands of like-minded bloggers each getting those few thousand people that hit their blogs, well, those few thousands turn into tens of millions eventually and if they’ve got a central repository of information like TheBlaze where they can get like-minded information and intelligence.

Glenn: So, for instance, we’re doing The Root special this week, and this week it’s on the armies of Armageddon. It covers kind of what we talked about at the beginning. Or this, I’d like you to go into another studio. We’re just going to take an iPhone and just have you do this yourself. We’ll put it up on our YouTube page, and I’ll Facebook it and everything else, Tweet it out tonight. Is there anything that our audience should do? When they see an important thing, is there anything they should do with those besides like them?

John: Tweet them, save them, Tweet them at you, Tweet them at TheBlaze, Tweet them at the people they know will spread that information, because when I see people out there doing something that they shouldn’t, @FBI, @CIA. Well, they’re not reading that. If you see something that is terror-centric or criminal-centric, make that phone call if you believe it really is, but if it’s something that’s just inflammatory and might imply civil unrest and there’s no imminent criminal threat, get it to a like-minded media personality. Currently you’re the only guy right now.

Glenn: Well, @Breitbart or @Drudge or @FOXNews, @Rush.

John: But FOX hasn’t run this as much as they should, and I’m a little disappointed in the way they’ve…Megyn Kelly’s done a great job.

Glenn: Megyn is really good.

John: Yeah, but some of the others haven’t. Michelle Malkin has done an awesome job.

Glenn: It’s the usual suspects. I mean, it really is the same group of people. Any indication of where this is going next? Any indication that this is gathering steam with anybody who’s real and not in this?

John: Well yeah, I mean, my fear based on the evolution that we’ve seen is that it is not a long leap for ISIS to get involved in this. I mean, you know this. You’ve covered Farrakhan over the years. How many billions did he take from Libya, directly and indirectly? He’s not going to be shy to take money from whoever is backing ISIS and help them get here. One threat…I know we’re short on time, and one thing I tell everyone to watch, prison converts to Islam.

Glenn: Yes.

John: Watch them. They’re a threat.

Glenn: We’ve been talking about that.

John: They’re here. Don’t watch the southern border. Watch prison. Watch parolees, probationers. They hate authority. They hate me and you, and they hate the government. These are dangerous guys to begin with.

Glenn: Okay, will you do me a favor, will you go back and look for the connections on that? I’ll do a whole show with you and also on Tides Foundation.

John: Absolutely.

What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

When did Americans start cheering for chaos?

MATHIEU LEWIS-ROLLAND / Contributor | Getty Images

Every time we look away from lawlessness, we tell the next mob it can go a little further.

Chicago, Portland, and other American cities are showing us what happens when the rule of law breaks down. These cities have become openly lawless — and that’s not hyperbole.

When a governor declares she doesn’t believe federal agents about a credible threat to their lives, when Chicago orders its police not to assist federal officers, and when cartels print wanted posters offering bounties for the deaths of U.S. immigration agents, you’re looking at a country flirting with anarchy.

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic.

This isn’t a matter of partisan politics. The struggle we’re watching now is not between Democrats and Republicans. It’s between good and evil, right and wrong, self‑government and chaos.

Moral erosion

For generations, Americans have inherited a republic based on law, liberty, and moral responsibility. That legacy is now under assault by extremists who openly seek to collapse the system and replace it with something darker.

Antifa, well‑financed by the left, isn’t an isolated fringe any more than Occupy Wall Street was. As with Occupy, big money and global interests are quietly aligned with “anti‑establishment” radicals. The goal is disruption, not reform.

And they’ve learned how to condition us. Twenty‑five years ago, few Americans would have supported drag shows in elementary schools, biological males in women’s sports, forced vaccinations, or government partnerships with mega‑corporations to decide which businesses live or die. Few would have tolerated cartels threatening federal agents or tolerated mobs doxxing political opponents. Yet today, many shrug — or cheer.

How did we get here? What evidence convinced so many people to reverse themselves on fundamental questions of morality, liberty, and law? Those long laboring to disrupt our republic have sought to condition people to believe that the ends justify the means.

Promoting “tolerance” justifies women losing to biological men in sports. “Compassion” justifies harboring illegal immigrants, even violent criminals. Whatever deluded ideals Antifa espouses is supposed to somehow justify targeting federal agents and overturning the rule of law. Our culture has been conditioned for this moment.

The buck stops with us

That’s why the debate over using troops to restore order in American cities matters so much. I’ve never supported soldiers executing civilian law, and I still don’t. But we need to speak honestly about what the Constitution allows and why. The Posse Comitatus Act sharply limits the use of the military for domestic policing. The Insurrection Act, however, exists for rare emergencies — when federal law truly can’t be enforced by ordinary means and when mobs, cartels, or coordinated violence block the courts.

Even then, the Constitution demands limits: a public proclamation ordering offenders to disperse, transparency about the mission, a narrow scope, temporary duration, and judicial oversight.

Soldiers fight wars. Cops enforce laws. We blur that line at our peril.

But we also cannot allow intimidation of federal officers or tolerate local officials who openly obstruct federal enforcement. Both extremes — lawlessness on one side and militarization on the other — endanger the republic.

The only way out is the Constitution itself. Protect civil liberty. Enforce the rule of law. Demand transparency. Reject the temptation to justify any tactic because “our side” is winning. We’ve already seen how fear after 9/11 led to the Patriot Act and years of surveillance.

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Contributor | Getty Images

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic. The left cannot be allowed to shut down enforcement, and the right cannot be allowed to abandon constitutional restraint.

The real threat to the republic isn’t just the mobs or the cartels. It’s us — citizens who stop caring about truth and constitutional limits. Anything can be justified when fear takes over. Everything collapses when enough people decide “the ends justify the means.”

We must choose differently. Uphold the rule of law. Guard civil liberties. And remember that the only way to preserve a government of, by, and for the people is to act like the people still want it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

In the quiet aftermath of a profound loss, the Christian community mourns the unexpected passing of Dr. Voddie Baucham, a towering figure in evangelical circles. Known for his defense of biblical truth, Baucham, a pastor, author, and theologian, left a legacy on family, faith, and opposing "woke" ideologies in the church. His book Fault Lines challenged believers to prioritize Scripture over cultural trends. Glenn had Voddie on the show several times, where they discussed progressive influences in Christianity, debunked myths of “Christian nationalism,” and urged hope amid hostility.

The shock of Baucham's death has deeply affected his family. Grieving, they remain hopeful in Christ, with his wife, Bridget, now facing the task of resettling in the US without him. Their planned move from Lusaka, Zambia, was disrupted when their home sale fell through last December, resulting in temporary Airbnb accommodations, but they have since secured a new home in Cape Coral that requires renovations. To ensure Voddie's family is taken care of, a fundraiser is being held to raise $2 million, which will be invested for ongoing support, allowing Bridget to focus on her family.

We invite readers to contribute prayerfully. If you feel called to support the Bauchams in this time of need, you can click here to donate.

We grieve and pray with hope for the Bauchams.

May Voddie's example inspire us.

Loneliness isn’t just being alone — it’s feeling unseen, unheard, and unimportant, even amid crowds and constant digital chatter.

Loneliness has become an epidemic in America. Millions of people, even when surrounded by others, feel invisible. In tragic irony, we live in an age of unparalleled connectivity, yet too many sit in silence, unseen and unheard.

I’ve been experiencing this firsthand. My children have grown up and moved out. The house that once overflowed with life now echoes with quiet. Moments that once held laughter now hold silence. And in that silence, the mind can play cruel games. It whispers, “You’re forgotten. Your story doesn’t matter.”

We are unique in our gifts, but not in our humanity. Recognizing this shared struggle is how we overcome loneliness.

It’s a lie.

I’ve seen it in others. I remember sitting at Rockefeller Center one winter, watching a woman lace up her ice skates. Her clothing was worn, her bag battered. Yet on the ice, she transformed — elegant, alive, radiant.

Minutes later, she returned to her shoes, merged into the crowd, unnoticed. I’ve thought of her often. She was not alone in her experience. Millions of Americans live unseen, performing acts of quiet heroism every day.

Shared pain makes us human

Loneliness convinces us to retreat, to stay silent, to stop reaching out to others. But connection is essential. Even small gestures — a word of encouragement, a listening ear, a shared meal — are radical acts against isolation.

I’ve learned this personally. Years ago, a caller called me “Mr. Perfect.” I could have deflected, but I chose honesty. I spoke of my alcoholism, my failed marriage, my brokenness. I expected judgment. Instead, I found resonance. People whispered back, “I’m going through the same thing. Thank you for saying it.”

Our pain is universal. Everyone struggles with self-doubt and fear. Everyone feels, at times, like a fraud. We are unique in our gifts, but not in our humanity. Recognizing this shared struggle is how we overcome loneliness.

We were made for connection. We were built for community — for conversation, for touch, for shared purpose. Every time we reach out, every act of courage and compassion punches a hole in the wall of isolation.

You’re not alone

If you’re feeling alone, know this: You are not invisible. You are seen. You matter. And if you’re not struggling, someone you know is. It’s your responsibility to reach out.

Loneliness is not proof of brokenness. It is proof of humanity. It is a call to engage, to bear witness, to connect. The world is different because of the people who choose to act. It is brighter when we refuse to be isolated.

We cannot let silence win. We cannot allow loneliness to dictate our lives. Speak. Reach out. Connect. Share your gifts. By doing so, we remind one another: We are all alike, and yet each of us matters profoundly.

In this moment, in this country, in this world, what we do matters. Loneliness is real, but so is hope. And hope begins with connection.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.