What can prompt a desire to ditch an unsatisfactory status quo?

Another “enough” moment on gun violence arrived at a Texas high school late last week. For some it seemed like a moment to lean on the early and hard-won maturity of a generation that has been deeply affected of late (if not as deeply as at times in the past). It’s a generation that’s becoming known not only for activism but also for tolerance of differences, a form of love.

An African-American preacher spoke with conviction at last weekend's British royal wedding about the redemptive power of love, offering assurance of its omnipresence – and that “when we discover [it] we will be able to make of this old world a new world.”

Redemption can be about many things, including clearing debt. A report saying that, despite all sorts of upward-pointing economic signs, more than 50 million US households – 43 percent of households – don’t pull in enough income to cover basic necessities may spark a critical look at how our expectations may have driven us into silos. One possible path out of those: consideration of different forms of intentional community, partnering with others who share values, even around areas like housing.

Laura Rozza, who helped create such a sharing arrangement a decade ago, spoke to Yes! Magazine about her motivation. “It was the idea,” she said, “of sort of creating a new world we want to live in.”

Now to our five stories for today, highlighting compassion in the opioid fight, ingenuity in countering an effect of climate change, and the cultural broadening of a popular literary genre.