Maya's Moral Beauty Series

Hi Readers,

I had the idea for this series the other day when I brainstorming how to lift our collective spirits during these dark times. I’m calling it the ✨Moral Beauty✨series and I’ll be using it to occasionally spotlight incredible people and their acts of humanity.

Research by the psychologists Jonathan Haidt and Dacher Keltner shows that when we witness or reflect on someone else’s moral beauty—their kindness, courage, humility, or self-sacrifice, for example—it can transform us. Their extraordinary actions challenge our understanding of the world and force us to adjust our mental models.

This experience, known as moral elevation, cracks open our imagination about what is possible for ourselves, and humanity at large.

My first Moral Beauty Hero is Katie Knight, whom I met in the first grade. She was the most popular girl in our school, but what I remember most about her is how deeply kind she was to every single kid in our class. I was an insecure, anxious child who was regularly bullied by the girls in my neighborhood. Katie’s acceptance of me meant everything. I remember this one month when she planned one-on-one playground hangouts with each of the girls in my class. It sounds silly, but I looked forward to my “Katie date” all month. This was Katie’s gift: she made everyone feel like they meant something to someone.

In the seventh grade, tragedy struck Katie’s family. Her mom, who was her best friend, died after a long battle with lymphoma. The news shattered our small town.

Many of us harden in the face of tragedy, but never once did I witness any bitterness or anger toward others from Katie. This was all the more remarkable, because like many of us who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, she lacked the appropriate language or resources to process her grief.

Katie and I reconnected in recent years, and she remains the same, deeply wonderful human I knew as a kid. She’s experienced more heartbreak since then—her brother tragically died in a car accident 15 years ago—and has put in the tough, emotional labor of unpacking her trauma with a therapist. Today, she says she is the happiest she’s ever been. To me, Katie is a beautiful illustration that even in the face of suffering, kindness can endure.

I encourage you to try to identify small moments of moral beauty in your own life. You can do this by engaging with stories anew or by reflecting on past moments in which you were moved by someone else. It’s all around us, waiting to be noticed—and when we see it, it brings more joy, hope, and possibility into our days.

Your prompt: Is there an instance of moral beauty you encountered this week? At a coffee shop, a drive-through, while dropping off your kids at school, in a conversation with a friend, or while waiting for your uber ride?

I’d love to hear from you in comments. And please let me know if you like this type of content — it’s all an experiment, but I hope this brightened your day just a tad :)

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-Maya 💫