This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
This week we're busy working on some new episodes for the show, so in the meantime, please enjoy the story from October 2017.
It's one of our favorites.
There's a popular inspirational quote, often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, that's made its way onto t shirts, mugs and posters.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Its a noble idea, but the truth is few of us follow it.
Life gets in the way.
We compromise.
We put aside our idealism as youthful naivete.
But what would happen if we didnt do this, if we stood fully by our principles?
Plenty of people have tried.
Julia Butterfly Hale spent two years in a redwood tree she named Luna to keep it safe from loggers.
To some people I'm just a dirty tree hugging hippie.
But I just.
I can't imagine being able to take a chainsaw to something like this.
And then there was Levoy Finicum, an Arizona rancher who defied the federal government and kept grazing his cattle on federal land after he was asked to remove them.
This fight I'm making, America, is not about cows and it's not about grass.
It's about the freedom of our land.
This agrasion right is my personal property right?