The story of humanity's soul has taken us from living in caves to walking on the moon. But there is much more of this story to be told. For one day, we will travel beyond our own tiny spot in the cosmos and begin yet another new adventure of discovery.

It is crucial that we stay grounded in some kind of permanence, not a personal permanence, but the permanence of the human journey. Ultimately, in order to stay anchored, we need more than just hashtags.

Don't tune out, because the story of humanity is about to take a turn. Human beings are nothing if not master storytellers.

It keeps me hopeful that the worst of times will not be in vain if we can just learn from them to ensure they never happen again, and to ensure we continue to do what is needed to help all humans be just that -- human.

Mother Nature has done it again. She slapped us upside the head to knock some sense into us. There is devastation for many. Nothing makes sense for them yet, but for most of us, we've been slapped into awareness.

The Internet boom is creating a technological language around what used to just be part of basic human interaction and relatedness. Will we soon need to be advised to say hello when greeting another person, to hug our child when she cries?