In the children’s room at the library, every month has a theme. The theme for November: Big Ideas That Changed The World. Scientists, artists, musicians, philosophers, writers, nature preservers, and holy people have all changed the world. I’m sure all of us can name a few with very little thought. But there are others whose ideas have changed the world in quieter ways, the ones who have transformed the lives of those around them in amazing ways. Are their ideas and lives any less worthy because they were not widely recognized? No.

As we approach Thanksgiving, it’s a good time to take a look at some of those ideas, and some of those beings, whose Big Idea and its living out has made the cosmos a better place.

Any one come to mind?