As I was writing the introduction for my book of essays The Best Is Yet to Come and reflecting on the gratifying but unexpected success of my radio commentaries, I came to realize the debt I owe to Jack Canfield and Victor Hansen, creators of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of inspirational books. It’s easy for some to dismiss these collections of stories as corny or manipulative, but they work, at least for me.

What’s more, they deserve credit for reintroducing our culture to parables and personal stories as a means of teaching and touching not just the mind but the heart. They give teachers like me permission to go beyond reason and logic and tap into the full range of human emotions and experiences in a way that reminds us of our softer side, even to the point of drawing tears.

William Arthur Ward said, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” I aspire to inspire – often with stories that help us understand, encourage us to do better, and remind us of things we know but don’t think about often enough.

These stories are needed antidotes to the toxic cynicism that pervades popular culture and causes us to measure humanity by its weaknesses rather than its strengths. We need to be reminded that the love, self-sacrifice, integrity, and courage of ordinary people confirm the extraordinary human capacity for nobility and prove that cynicism is a deplorable lie.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.