The Glenn Beck Program - Best of the Program | Guest: Ezra Levant | 12/3/24

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

“No one is above the law,” claimed the Democrats throughout their political warfare against Trump. Glenn exposes the Left for the double standard regarding legal consequences. When justice is applied unequally, resentment festers and society fractures. Rebel News founder Ezra Levant was recently arrested in Canada for filming a pro-Hamas rally in his own Jewish community, and he joins to give a stark warning to America of what’s to come if we continue to give up our rights. Glenn gives his theory on why our society has such a mental health crisis, especially among our youth. Is it scientifically proven that giving is better than receiving?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Man, there's a lot to talk about. You don't want to miss any of today's show. You can get the full podcast, but this is the best of. It gives you the highlights of today's podcast, the importance of justice in our society. I don't know, Hunter Biden. Also, one of our good friends arrested by the police for standing in his own neighborhood, just filming this Hamas protest in a Jewish neighborhood.

he's arrested he didn't say anything wait till you see this also why are we so depressed i i think i have a i think i have a unique answer for you that will make a lot of sense that you should share with friends it's all on today's podcast if you're living with pain in your life uh you got to be tired of giving things up don't don't i mean i'm in so much pain most of the time that i could just i don't know if could make it to the microphone to sing where to hell my phone. But, but there is a good chance that you know, relief factor will be there for me and just take me just a step further. It's a daily supplement that helps your body fight pain by fighting inflammation, which is the source of most of the pain in our bodies and a lot of our disease as well. It's 100% drug-free developed

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I'm going to play something, and I am only using Democrats because of what is in the news, but we have all said this before. I know I have said this a million times in my life. I want you to hear what the Democrats have said about Donald Trump. Listen. No one is above the law. No one is above the law. Nobody is above the law. No one is above the law.

law. No one is above the law. Nobody is above the law. No one is above the law. No one is above the law. No one is above the law. No one is above the law. Okay. And then we get to Hunter Biden. All right. So we, we know this. No one is above the law. And we all say it. And supposedly we all mean it. but do we when they accused Donald Trump of an imperfect phone call I wanted to know the truth I wanted to know exactly what was happening when they said that he was

an agent of Russia I didn't believe it but I went to my staff and I said I want you to take this as yes it's very possible find the proof or find the evidence

that it's a lie, but find the truth because no one is above the law. Well, we found out that it was, to quote Donald Trump, a perfect phone call. There was nothing wrong. There was nothing there. There was no collusion with Russia. It was all a hoax. And in the last few years, we've been showing you this, and half the country still believes the lie. Why? Because they actually believe, and I fear some of us do as well, as long as it's on our side, we can skate. I don't believe that. Some Democrats are now saying that, you know, if Joe Biden wanted to save his reputation,

he should have also pardoned Donald Trump at the same time. But I don't think they fit in the same category. And we'll get into that later. But I just want to start with comparing something here. One man has done all kinds of things, has taken millions of dollars from foreign countries to influence the vice president and the president of the United States. and these countries are hostile towards us.

He has helped by taking money, he has helped China buy companies here in America that can make specific things for weapons that it's against the law to be able to sell that technology. But somehow or another, he got it done. Those are pretty important laws. Now, there's another important law. Murder. Okay. Manslaughter. Killing someone else. That is huge. If you kill somebody, you should go to jail.

But to tales matter. Okay. Okay. So he didn't pay his taxes because he was money laundering. All right. That's bad. But what makes it a crime that you must pay attention to is. is he was laundering that money from a country that was hostile towards us, an enemy of the state. That, my friend, is treason. If you're on a train, let's say a subway, and you are threatening to kill everybody and you kill somebody, that's murder.

However, if you're on a train and somebody comes in and is threatening to kill everybody on the train, says they don't care if they die or go to prison. And everyone on that train car says, I live in New York. I know crazy people, okay? And I've seen these kinds of scenes before on the subway. Believe me, they're not that uncommon. However, this was unlike anything else.

This man was deadly serious. And a Todd Beamer, isn't that his name? From 9-11? A Todd Beamer stands up. and has the courage to do something. He was a Marine. His name is Daniel Penny. What he did is he choked him out.

He came up from behind him, choked him out. That's easy to do. Chuck Norris did it to me. I don't know why he did. Anyway, he choked him out. Okay? It's what you do. Now he has been charged with manslaughter and reckless endangerment.

he's on videotape talking to the cops saying he didn't know he was dead I didn't mean to hurt him I hope he's okay I was just trying to protect everybody else everybody else on the train says thank God for this guy but he's going through a trial now and could go to prison for protecting people for doing the right thing for standing up to protect others. Is there anything more noble than someone willing to risk their life to save others?

Is there anything more noble? Is there anything that we should, as a society, say, yeah, let's look at all the details, but this one is pretty easy because everything's on camera. First of all, one thing you should learn is,

don't ever talk to the cops. The cops absolutely. set him up. In that interview, they knew he was dead. And they're talking to him and saying things like, correct me if I'm wrong, Stu, you know, we were Marines too. We understand. Oh, yeah. And he would seem like they were understanding and just trying to get the, the facts of it, and set him up to confess to something that he didn't do. The whole thing was a disaster. Okay. So why, why are these two stories so important today? The justice. The justice. The just that is handed down in a courtroom sometimes is flawed, okay, because we're man.

Even if it's 12 in a jury, we could get it wrong. It's why we have in our society something that I think is really important when in doubt, if there's a shadow of a doubt, you can't convict them. We would rather let one guilty guy or 12 guilty guy, or 12 guilty guys go free, then one person go to jail unjustly. I just want you to think for a second, how many people are in jail today in America that should not be in jail? How many people are in jail because they were praying outside of an abortion clinic? That they were a grandmother that was walking through the Capitol. They weren't breaking windows. They weren't doing anything. They were, quote, parading.

Never before in my lifetime that I can remember, this injustice happened to blacks for, you know, 150 years, 200 years. In my lifetime, I don't remember the civil rights movement. I was too young. And I grew up in Seattle and, you know, everybody was white and there was like, hey, everything's great, right? Justice isn't about what just happens in the courtroom. This is the principle that underpins every society.

The survival of civilization relies on justice. If justice is not upheld, society commits suicide. If it is upheld, it thrives. This is the thing about America. This is why people came here. not because we were the most just, but because we tried to be just. Our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, it was all about to make a more perfect nation, not a perfect nation, a more perfect nation.

That we have these ideas that we hold as self-evident. Everybody believes them because we know it's true. Everybody's created equal. not equal outcomes, but you come into the world with every opportunity that a king or a prince or a pauper has. You decide through your actions what you're going to do. Are you going to be a villain? Or are you going to try to be noble when your back is up against the wall? are you somebody that takes money from China because you can or are you somebody that is sitting on a train

seeing somebody and saying this guy is crazy I got to do something I'm trained to do something I'm not I'm not I'm God help you if you're on the train and I'm the guy you're looking for because I don't know what to do let's trip him hey let's give him a wedgie I I remember getting those in third grade. I don't know what to do. When justice is corrupted, when the rich and the powerful are allowed to escape accountability, and the average person is crushed under the weight of every single minor infraction, you know that's true today.

Look at Mr. Penny. He's being held to the highest. of standards. And it's clear to everyone. This guy was trying to do the right thing. If you didn't pay your taxes, do you think you would have gotten a pardon? If you even thought about meeting with the heads of the Communist Party and then got a deal that no one on earth has ever received from the Chinese, do you think the FBI would be at your door? Of course they would. And when the average person is under that weight, when the average person feels they've got to answer for absolutely everything, and the law just gets bigger and bigger. And so just show me the person, I'll show you the

crime. You become the Soviet Union. You become a state where the people, where the people, people begin to feel like prisoners and the entire foundation of even the greatest society ever begins to crack. Justice is what keeps us believing that we live in a system worth defending. Has anybody watched anything about the Tuskegee Airmen even? do you know that African-American Corps in World War II were more effective than almost any other group of soldiers? Why? They had no reason to believe that this was a just society.

No, no, no. They knew it wasn't just, but they believed in the principles that someday we will live up to those standards. and that was worth defending. You know why people aren't joining the military right now? Because we're not sure this is worth defending. Why? Justice, the trust of justice, has been broken. We have to live in a society.

If we want to have a society, live in a society that no matter our station in life, we know we're protected by the same laws, we have the same rights, the same basic principles. But what happens when that's shattered? When we see those with wealth or influence walking free after committing unbelievably blatant crimes, well, you are held accountable for every jot and tittle.

People lose faith and not just in the system, but in the idea of the country itself. This is why we're in so much trouble. This is foundational. You look at history. Why did the French Revolution happen? Because all the fat cats were living lavishly while the common people starved and were paying for all of the fat cat parties with taxes with money they didn't have.

Why did Americans take to the streets after 2008 the financial? crisis. It wasn't just Occupy Wall Street. That kicked off the Tea Party. That changed America. Why? Because Wall Street bankers got bonuses while we lost our homes. These things are not events. What's happening to us, these are warnings when justice is applied unequally resentment festering. sisters, society, fractures. People stop believing the system can ever work for them. How many of us know people that say, ah, it's not going to, oh, they'll get away with it.

I don't know, systems against me. My kids won't have it better than me. Why is that? Because we no longer believe it has nothing to do with money. Honestly, it has everything to do with the belief that everyone has the same opportunities. And while some of that is true, most of that that convinces us we don't is a lie. Truth and true justice, it's about accountability and fairness. It's not about punishing the rich because they're rich, hating the rich because they're rich,

or the poor because they're poor. It's about making sure the rules apply to everyone equally, the rich, the poor, the black, the white, that is the American dream. And if the powerful can skirt the law, what incentive do you have to follow the law? If the powerless are crushed under the weight of unjust laws, how do you trust the system? And by the way, justice is also about dignity. It says you matter. Your voice, your rights, your existence, it holds value. This is why black lives matter was so dangerous because it said one group matters. No, no.

All life matters. That's true justice. Some lives matter more than others? No. That's poison to a nation. Demand better. It is the cure. To what ills us.

If you love the Cuban Missile Crisis and who didn't, you're going to love the sequel. Seems like the Biden administration doing everything it can to poke the Russian bear as many times and as hard as it can for the next couple of months. So that's always fun. With all that's happening in the world, you'd be crazy not to at least be a little concerned about what emergency situations might arise. All out thermonuclear war. Yeah, yeah, that's actually, wow. storing emergency food in your home is the right thing to do. We still live in a crazy time.

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This is the best of the Glenn Beck program. All right, I want to talk to you a little bit here about justice. Right now, we're living in a world, and hopefully Donald Trump is going to be correcting some of these real errors of our ways. We are a world that has gone truly insane, and our neighbors up in Canada are just as insane, if not more so. They're farther down the road. A good friend of the program, a good friend of mine is Ezra Levant. He is Rebel News, which is kind of like the blaze up in Canada. He is Jewish, and he has just been arrested. He was arrested.

In fact, I want to play the video of him being arrested. he is only standing as a journalist filming in his own Jewish neighborhood a Palestinian, you know, protest, if I can call it that. I want you to listen to what happens the exchange between him and the police. Listen. I allowed you to take this video. I allowed you to take that video. So you're refusing to leave? I'm refusing to them.

Why? Because I'm a Jew. I'm a citizen and I'm your boss. And I don't leave because you say Jews on the ground on the street. In the interest of keeping peace here in public safety, you're under arrest from reaching a piece. I'm good. Take this. This is his neighborhood.

He's not an outsider. This is his Jewish neighborhood. I'm being arrested because I'm standing on the sidewalk in my city. I'm a Jew who lives in this neighborhood. and I'm being arrested because the police say that's a path of least resistance. Amazing. Ezra is with us now. Ezra.

This is crazy. This is absolutely crazy. What's going on? Glenn, I've never been arrested before. They handcuffed me and they took me to jail for a few hours. And they said that I had incited a breach of the peace. Now, I wasn't doing anything unlawful. I was actually just debating with those cops because I wanted to film.

You called it a pro-Palestinian rally. It sort of was, but I think it was more than that. It was pro-Hamas. They had set up this really macabre display of they were reenacting the final moments of Yaya Sinwar, the now deceased head of Hamas where he was sitting in a chair covered with blood or whatever. So these Palestinian activists came into the heart of a Jewish residential community. So they weren't protesting outside an embassy or a political target. They were just in the middle of a bunch of apartments in a very Jewish neighborhood.

So they were targeting Jews as Jews, Canadian Jews, nothing to do with the war overseas. They were putting on this sort of reenactment of their hero, the head of Hamas. And I thought this was so astonishing. I just wanted to film it. I wasn't even interacting with them. I just was quietly filming him. And you sort of heard the jeering. They were saying Jews, Zionist, whatever.

And so the top cop said to me that by being there, I was inciting a breach of the peace. I myself obviously was not breaching the peace, but these pro-hamas thugs were, and they essentially vetoed me being on my own sidewalk. This is public property. I wasn't in some private place to be trespassed or something. And the cops arrested me, the path of least resistance, which I mentioned when it happened, because there was about 20 of them, and there was one of me, and instead of upholding the law, they said, well, just take Ezra out, because we know he's not going to riot,

he's not going to get violent, take out the quiet Jew and let the noisy Hamas ones continue. That's just crazy, and you know what? I don't regret being arrested because there's no way I was going to leave because they were saying, you know, you were committing the sin of being Jewish on the sidewalk. I'm sorry, I'm not going to leave just because you say, Jews can't be here. And you heard them say that as I was arrested. Is there a chance you go to jail for this, that this is upheld in Canadian court now? Well, I did go to jail for a few hours. Then they released me without charge. Now, I was so

upset with this precedent that, and that was about nine days ago that that happened. So two days ago, these same Hamas protesters came back to that same Jewish neighborhood. And I, I, Glenn, I said this can't stand. So I sent an email out to our viewers and I said, come stand with me. We'll be peaceful. We won't engage with the Hamas ones. We'll just stand on the public sidewalk and, you know, just assert our rights. We'll take back our streets. And I said, be aware that we may be arrested, but if that's where we are, we need to know. So a hundred people came out two days ago, 100 people. And the police saw my email. So they put out a tweet the night before, staying that they reserved the right to arrest people. So they were trying to scare my people off.

But I showed up on Sunday morning and 100 people were there. And I led them across the street. and we stood there, and I think the police sized us up and thought, there's a hundred of them. We really can't arrest a hundred of them. It was no longer the path of least resistance. So we took back the streets. And it was a victory, and I think we undid that terrible precedent that was set. You can't arrest a peaceful person because someone else is threatening them.

They're doing it in England, too, though. Doing the same thing in England. Well, you know, I'm interested in the UK. One of our former employees, Tommy Robinson, is in prison right now for publishing a documentary on X. And I always say I go to the UK because it's a dystopian time machine to see what Canada will be like in five years. Maybe we're further down the road than that. So, Glenn, I would say to you and your American viewers, hold on to your rights. And if you want a picture of what America would look like, if you lose your rights, look at us.

And that's why I was so relieved when Donald Trump won, because I think he's going to turn back some of these successes. I think so, too. Let me ask you. Trudeau said that if Benjamin Netanyahu steps foot in Canada, he'll have him arrested. Justin Trudeau has sided not just with Palestinians, because I can understand making the case for innocent civilians and being harmed as collateral damage in a war. and you can be compassionate for Palestinians. You can do that. But Trudeau has gone much further.

He has been so supportive of Hamas. I don't know if you know this, Glenn. They literally made an English language video thanking Canada. He has absolutely turned against Israel at the United Nations. He routinely condemns. He republishes misinformation. and hoaxes about Israel that Hamas circulates, and when it's disproven, he doesn't correct.

He's whipped up what I call an anti-Semitic crime wave. For the last year, not just hate crimes, because sometimes, well, is a hate crime, just a thought crime or a word crime? I'm talking about crime crimes. Molotov cocktails being thrown at synagogues. A Jewish girls' school in my town shot up with guns twice. constant vandalism, constant uttering death threats, trespass, mischief, vandalism.

And I'm pretty much a libertarian on free speech. I don't like it when people say anti-Semitic things, but I understand that that's part of freedom. Yes. But first of all, not for foreign nationals. If you're a guest in our country, if you don't have tenure here as a citizen, get out. Trudeau, instead of deporting these thugs, he's bringing in thousands of, quote, refugees from gas. And I would say to America, be careful because Trudeau is bringing in hundreds of thousands of people into Canada who share these outrageous beliefs. And we have a porous border with you.

So don't think that they, some of them are trying to get into the U.S. That's why Trump is trying to strengthen the border with Canada. And I hope it takes effect. I hope that it gets more serious. I will tell you this. You know, there are a lot of Canadians that are saying this tariff. that Donald Trump is talking about with Canada will kill us and hurt America as well. If Trudeau does not abide with the border restrictions, if he doesn't fall in line with our laws,

Donald Trump's not bluffing. He does not mind tariffs. And he is going to, I mean, he will crush any country that is doing damage to the United States. He means it. I believe that Trump means it, but I also believe he doesn't want to put the tariffs on. He just is trying to get Trudeau's attention. Yes, it's the way he negotiates, but he doesn't. The one thing you have to understand, unlike most politicians, Donald Trump never threatens. He makes promises.

You do this and I'll do that. you do this and I'll do that and he means it. It's worth rereading the art of the deal where he explains how he negotiates and how he reframes things and takes dramatic positions. It really is a decoder for a lot of his political talk. But what is he demanding from Canada? Nothing that we ourselves shouldn't demand from our own government. He's demanding two things from Canada. Stop the drugs coming over the border, especially China made fentanyl that is that is trafficked through Canada.

into the states. And number two, stop the illegal immigration. We should want both of those things on our own basis. And the fact that it takes our big brother in America to smarten us up is sort of embarrassing. We should have done those things on our own. And I think that Trudeau suddenly has a decision to make. Does he want to just, you know, play to the cameras and have woke press statements? Or is he going to be a grown-up now and get serious and be productive and have a work relationship with our best friends and allies. And I don't know. I mean, Trudeau, he's so low in the polls, he may try to, Glenn, turn this into an election issue. I'm going to stand up to Trump. And the conservative candidate is a Trump puppet. And he might try and actually run in his next

Canadian election, not against the Canadian Conservative Party, but like a shadow boxing campaign against Trump. I wouldn't put it past him. He hates Trump, the feelings mutual, both men have disparaged each other in the past. I just look forward to the day when we get past the Trudeau era because he's made our country a darker place. He really has. Ezra, I'm glad things are working out. Stay safe, my friend.

You are a huge target and a force for good up in Canada. Thank you. Thanks, my friend. Bye-bye. You're streaming the best of the Glenn Beck program, and you can find full episodes wherever you download podcasts. All right. I want to take a step back from the politics.

and the actual news of the day and show you how all of the news of the day is affecting us and what we're supposed to do with it. It's one thing to listen to a show and go, oh, he just named this person. Oh, this person's going to have trouble, you know, getting confirmed, all of that stuff. We have to start asking ourselves deeper questions than just questions about politics. Let's start here. What the hell is wrong with us? What is happening? What is wrong with us?

We live at a time where no person in the history of the world has ever had it as good as we have it right now. Right now, with all the problems that we have, no one has lived at a time and lived a better, easier life than we do right now. And we're all bitching and complaining. We're depressed. So many of us are on pharmaceuticals, better living through pharmaceuticals. So many of us are taking antidepressants. Why are we so depressed? Why are our kids killing themselves in record numbers?

I would like to suggest it's because our society is based almost entirely now on lies. It's based on what we want to be true, not what is true. And the biggest lie is me. Now, I can say this because if I'm known for anything, it's my humility. And I know they're fashioning an award for humility, and I expect to receive it any day now. But let me talk to you a little bit about humility. It ain't about me. It's not about you.

The biggest lie we buy into, and every device we have feeds into it. Me, me, me, me, me. Who was it? Was it Narcissus, the Greek hunter that was so beautiful? He sat by the river and just looked at his image like, man, look at me, I am so hot. The story goes that he fell in love with his image. And if somebody tried to take him away from his image, he would beat his chest black and blue.

He had to look at himself and his reflection because he just found himself so beautiful. Let me ask you, have you ever tried to take your phone away from somebody, take their phone away, your kids? Would they not, in some way or another, beat themselves black and blue to get it back? narcissism. We are the Greek hunter. That story is known for a reason. It's bad. It destroys people. Good people. Destroyes them. Think about how we are gazing at our own image with selfies. How we are scrolling and seeing a distorted look at everybody else's life. We're doing worse than beating ourselves black and black and blue. If we're denied that device, people go crazy. Try it, try it. Just say, hey, honey, I'm going to take your phone away for a while. My wife comes to me, honey, I got to take, I got to take your

device away. You lose your mind. This is happening for a few reasons. First of all, the companies that make these things have made them addictive. They make them knowing that the programming they put into it becomes addictive. So I'm sorry, gang. We all need a 12-step program because we are all addicted to that device. You don't believe me. Leave it at home today. See how you feel in a couple of hours. You'll be jonesing. Most of us, there's this saying that I always hated, and because I always heard it around Christmas time, it is better to give than receive. Oh, sure. No, it's not. No, it's not. I like lots of presents under the tree. It feels really, really good. I went out and got you something. You open it, and I'm like, hey, you like it? Great. Where's my stuff? That's what I

used to think as a kid. You know, it's better to serve people than to be served. No, it's not. I really like just sitting at the table and have somebody come and say, would you like more of this? Yes, please. That doesn't make any sense. Logically, it makes no sense.

Sounds noble and stuff. Yes. Yes, it is better to give than receive. But inside, you're like, no, it's not. Receiving should bring more joy, right? When you receive, you gain something. You get a gift. You get a favor.

You get a reward. You get a little ping on your phone and you're like, yeah. Yet, the opposite is true and we know it. Giving, whether it's time, resources, compassion, brings deep and abiding sense of fulfillment. You can't find that. that kind of joy. And I know it because I go to a church where we have to serve each other and we have to look out for our brother and sister. And we're like, oh, I got to do what? I got to go where? I got to help who move? That's not going to bring me joy. Somebody actually on Saturday,

you know, Sunday night said, hey, Glenn, we got to get together. You want to clean the church with me on Saturday? Now, when we say clean the church, we don't have any paid staff. He means clean the toilets. We can get together, we can talk, and we can clean the church. And I'm like, oh yeah, I love cleaning those toilets on set. But I actually do. It's weird. You feel better.

So how is that working? This is a paradox, a fundamental truth of human experience. The answer is not in religion. It's not in philosophy, spirituality. It's in biology. It's the psychology of what it means to be a human. I'm talking about this because, well, I'll tell you in a minute, but it's important. Let me start with the science real quick.

Neuroscientists have discovered that if you give, it activates the brain's pleasure centers in remarkably similar ways to the effects of really good food, hard drugs, sex. Now, I've never given to the point to where I'm like, I need a cigarette after that one, but I'd like to. In one study, participants who gave money to charity experienced the activation in the same area of the brain that lights up when you eat chocolate. And I know how I feel when I eat chocolate. Somehow or another, God gave us. this this amazing gift to make us feel good.

It taps into the biological system that governs happiness and reward. You know, we're not the most charitable nation in the world anymore. Did you know that? I think we just slipped into number two. I don't know who beats us. Hope to God, it's not Canada. but we were a happy nation for a couple of reasons. See, this isn't just about brain chemistry.

Giving also has tangible effects on our physical health. Did you know that? Researchers, the University of California, Berkeley, they found that people who regularly volunteer actually have lower blood pressure, reduce stress levels, and effects, deep effects on their physical health. it gives them a longer lifespan. That's incredible.

Another study from Carnegie Mellon University showed adults over 50 who volunteered at least 200 hours a year were 40% less to develop any kind of hypertension. 40%. It's like a heart healthy thing. Forget the Cheerios, man. It helps your heart both figuratively. and biologically. And then there's the mental health. All kinds of studies have found that acts of kindness, generosity,

reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. One striking study found that people who performed five acts of kindness in a single day reported significantly greater levels of happiness than those who didn't. Five. Could just be opening the door. for somebody, writing a note, donating to a cause you care about, just calling somebody, just asking somebody, hey, how's your day? And actually meaning it, just doing five things like that, dramatically changes your happiness.

Now, it's not a fluke and it's not modern society. This is deeply rooted in us. We are by nature social creatures. We need one another. Let me take you back, a ways back in history, when we were all like, me hungry, eat dog. You know, last week in the Biden administration, take us back to our basic beginnings of civilization.

You couldn't be. Somebody living on your own, okay? Because you get killed. Something's going to kill you. It depend, our survival depended on cooperation, sharing, mutual aid. Farming was the biggest thing. Once we realized, wait, you could do that and I can do this, and then we can both have a meal. This is great.

Those who helped their neighbors or shared their resources were more likely to thrive as a part of a community than those who were just hoarding everything for themselves. So over time, this instinct for generosity was hardwired into our DNA. I personally think it was there as part of the design from the beginning. But let's just tell you what medical science tells us now. By the way, keep six feet apart. It's very important. Psychologists called this the Helpers High.

It's a phenomenon that where acts of altruism release the endorphins, which are the body's natural pain killers. It's a built-in reward system that ensures that we continue to prioritize community and connection. Why are we depressed? We are not connected to one another anymore. We're connected to the river we're gazing in. We're connected to our devices. we're not prioritizing community. We're prioritizing me, me, me, me, me.

Why do you think we're so divided? There are forces that are dividing us, and then we're doing it ourselves. And that ancient instinct remains. It is calling to us. And we don't know what it is, and so we're killing ourselves. It's all about giving,

it's all about gratitude. If giving brings joy, gratitude multiplies it. By the way, today is giving Tuesday. And I don't care if you have any money at all. Hold the door open for somebody. Pass it forward. Go to Chick-fil-A and pay for the people behind you. It's a ripple effect.

And it all stems from gratitude. that's another thing we no longer have. Our society is telling us not to be grateful because you have nothing to be grateful for. Everybody's against you. You'll never make it. The system is unjust. So you have no gratitude. Without gratitude, you don't want to give.

You want a hoard. You want to protect. Do you see what's happening to us? is why this is so evil. But when we pause just for a second and recognize what we have, this is the most powerful tool against negativity. If you regularly practice gratitude, better sleep, increased optimism, stronger relationships. In fact, there was a study done where this doctor said, write down every day three things that you're grateful for. 25% increase in happiness in 10 weeks.

And it doesn't just make you feel better. It makes you actually more generous because you're seeing what you have, what others don't, and you want to share it. Just recognizing the things you might be very poor right now. You might have had the worst year of your life. I've been there, brother. But if you can find three things every day, write them down. Because it's a cycle.

Giving Foster's gratitude. Gratitude fuels giving. And it just compounds on itself. It's a feedback loop of positivity. It gets us away from staring at our own image in the modern day river. I would love to ask you to support whatever you're passionate about today. We were supposed to give thanks last week. I hope we did.

Give thanks for the miracles, recognize, have gratitude for where we are and what has happened and the time we live in. Today, let's put that into action on Giving Tuesday. There's lots of charities you can give to. We talk about many of them on this program. my personal favorite, obviously, is mercury1.org. We have a goal of $200,000, which will get us on the ground first. We won't have to worry about where are we pulling the money from. We'll have that reserve of 200 grand to get us moving the moment a tragedy happens.

Mercury1.org.