RISTalks
By Khalid Latif | 2026-01-16T14:01:27.928912+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Not Just Why, But Why Not? Making Religion Relevant | Imam Khalid Latif | RISTalks
Opening Greetings and Salutations
(السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh)
(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)
(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ - alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin, maliki yaumid-din)
Opening Khutbah
In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Universe, the Master of the Day of Judgment.
I bear witness and testimony to the oneness of Allah, to His magnificence, His omnipotence, His might, His glory, to His being the Creator and Sustainer of all things, the Giver of life, the Guider of hearts, the Master of the Day of Judgment. And I bear witness to the fact that Muhammad ibn Abdullah, peace and blessings be upon him, is His servant and final messenger.
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and upon all those who choose to tread in his path until the last day.
The Story of Abu Bakr and Ibn Ad-Daghina
It is said that in the early years of Islam, the situation was quite severe for the Muslim community. And it gets to such a dire strait that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), he comes to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, asking him for permission to leave so that he could find a place where he could worship Allah freely. And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, he grants permission to his friend Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him).
And as Abu Bakr is gathering his things and he is making himself ready to leave from the city, a man who is not Muslim by the name of Ibn Ad-Daghina comes to him and asks him, "Where is it that you are going?"
And Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), he says, "It is hard for me to worship my Lord here freely. I need to go someplace else where I can do so." That he has felt the persecution at the hands of the Mushrikeen of Месса.
And now this man who is not Muslim says to him, "If you start to leave people like yourself from our city, then we as a society on a whole will start to suffer. If anyone was to cause you any problems beyond this point, you tell them that you are under my protection. But we need the likes of you to be here."
The Central Question
And it's a question that we need to start to think about, especially the conversation that we are hoping to have here tonight. That when we think about our Islam, whether it's on an individual level or on an institutional level, we want to move beyond simple ritual for the sake of ritual, but really hone in on what it means to live a life for the pleasure of Allah.
To think deeply as an individual, taking a look within and not being self-deprecating but honest and productive in our criticism, asking ourselves: How is our being a Muslim not something that is just good for us, but how is our being a Muslim something that is good for the society around us?
When you think about this narration and you think about Abu Bakr who lived such a life that the people who are of his community would say that we need you here—if we were not here tomorrow, would the city of Toronto be upset? If we were not here tomorrow, would the entire country be in a place where they would say that no, they bring such a benefit, we need for them to be here?
And how do we get to the place where we find such a value inside of ourselves and we appreciate it to such an extent that we now start to share it with those who are waiting for us to share it with them?
Self-Reflection and Action
What have you done for someone in the last day of your life? What have you done for someone in the last week of your life? The last month, the last year if you were to truly reflect and think about an action that was purely for the sake of someone else, not looking to give a rise to your own nafs but to just simply say that here is an opportunity for me to do and I will do for no other reason other than it is the right thing to do?
I think at times we attribute too much to passivity and laziness. And I think where the real challenge is for many of us is that we don't necessarily believe we have something to actually give back.
We don't find a sense of confidence within, and through that confidence we don't then give to the world around us.
Confidence vs. Arrogance
Confidence is very different from arrogance.
My confidence allows for me to see my God-given talents and skills with an air of gratitude and appreciation. I can say Allah has endowed me with something that I can go and give back to my community. My confidence also allows for me to see where I have areas to improve—my non-strengths.
When I am arrogant, I only see weakness in the world around me.
And when I don't have the ability to believe that I have something to give back, I'm not going to give it back. The question doesn't have to be on a big level. Even though we stand 10,000, 20,000 strong, the first step has to be one where you take an individual look within, really hone in on what it is that you have to offer, and then ask yourself why you are not giving it back.
Understanding Allah's Attributes
Affirming voices, supportive atmosphere, is something that our communities tend to be devoid of. We don't necessarily have so many that we can go and unload on, and in turn the voices and the rhetoric that comes to us is not rooted in compassion and understanding and mercy.
When the world is trying to figure out where God is and who Allah is, do we even know who it is that we worship?
- Do you believe that Allah is Ar-Rahman (the Most Merciful) the way He says He is Rahman?
- Do you believe that He is Al-Wadud (the Most Loving)?
- Do you believe that He is Al-Latif (the Most Subtle, the Most Kind)?
- Do you believe that He is Ar-Rahim (the Most Compassionate)?
And do you take that understanding of your Lord and understand that your perception of Him will be the basis by which you live your life for Him? Do you take that understanding and then interject it into this world that is looking to see where in fact God is? And through interacting with you they understand that not only does Allah exist, but that Allah is merciful, compassionate, and just.
Finding Good in Ourselves and Others
It's hard for us at times. It's hard for us at times because we don't always necessarily have the ability to find good in ourselves, and in turn we find hardship in finding good in others.
Certain things are out of our control. We're not able to really change them. I was giving a lecture in a community recently where there was a lot of people. Not as many as this. And I'm pretty nervous right now.
When I was speaking at the end, a lot of people came up to me and they said that was really great and you inspired us and my head was getting really big. And then there was a young woman who came up to me and she said that my sister is a really big fan of yours. She would love to meet you. Is that okay?
And I was like, "Yeah, sure, bring her on."
When she came, her sister couldn't see. She was blind. And so I started to talk to her and when we were finished in our conversation she said to me, "I thought you were much taller than you actually are."
And I said, "What do you mean? This girl can't see."
She said, "Your voice is coming from down here and not up here. You're pretty short."
And outside I was like, "Yeah, subhanallah, that's great." And inside I was thinking, man, a blind girl just told me I'm short. How short must I be?
I can't change that. And I'm comfortable with who Allah has made me.
Inshallah ta'ala, He instills within me the courage to not be afraid to meet the person that I could potentially be. But at times we find ourselves in a place where we don't have necessarily that supportive atmosphere. And in the absence of that atmosphere we start to wonder, what does faith mean? What does Islam mean? And who is Allah if this is the way that the people who are meant to be His representatives on the earth actually treat us?
A Story of Pain and Isolation
There was a young woman who came to see me who was telling me of an instance that she had to really digest in ways that were hard for her to digest. She went to a Muslim school, an Islamic school growing up. And she said that when I was born I had a facial disfigurement. I wasn't necessarily the most beautiful person.
And when I went to my school she said kids would laugh at me, they would make fun of me. And she said there was times when I would overhear teachers laughing about the way that I look.
She said in my home my parents weren't really so supportive. They wouldn't really give me any indication that they were proud of me or they loved me. She said when I got old enough I decided to have a surgery done to deal with my disfigurement. And my father he told me don't do that because you will never be beautiful and if you do this God will punish you. He will not really ever reward you with anything.
She said I decided to go ahead and do it anyway. And after the first phase of the surgery they had trouble resuscitating me. But they were able to, Alhamdulillah.
And she said when they resuscitated me rather than being met with any warmth or any kind of remorse that potentially I would not be here, my father's first words to me were, "See, I told you God would punish you."
She said when I went through the second phase of the surgery and they were able to fix the disfigurement, for the first time I was happy seeing myself in a mirror. She said I would smile and I enjoyed seeing the smile that I saw in the reflection. And when I would do this my parents would say to me, "You have nothing to smile about. You are still as ugly as you were before."
And she said I realized for the first time how alone I was. She said nobody really came to see me in that hospital. None of my friends that I went to school with. My family definitely didn't come.
She said the first time I ever felt support, I ever felt cared for was when I was in that hospital and those doctors and nurses and residents were there with me every step of the way. And she said I want to feel love like that again. I wanted to feel support like that again.
So I went and I picked up a metal can in my house and I started to hit my face with it. She said I hit myself so much that I went unconscious. And when I went to the hospital she said I felt terrible because the doctor had told me that I hadn't broken anything and I was fine to go home. So now I'm just waiting until I pass away.
Our Responsibility
That's not okay. It's not okay for that young woman to have to live in a reality like this.
And the responsibility that we have, whether we were here for hours, whether we were here for days, whether we were here for the last week, is to take the information that we have gathered not to just store it in our heads but to put it in our hearts, let it resonate deep within and emanate into action in a world that is looking for mercy, hope and love from the likes of you and I.
If that young woman walked in here today would any of you hesitate in rising for her? Then realize she exists.
And that there are thousands that are like her that are waiting for you to go and build the spaces that likes of her need. And until you build them, they will not have a place to go. Until you put yourself in a place where you recognize your skill and your talent and what you have the ability to do, then young women such as that who are trying to figure out where is Allah and what does He really want from me are going to just get the responses from the people who don't really have any mindfulness of what this deen is about.
You have the ability to do and you have to start to think about what that means.
The Absence of Selflessness
This world is in a place where surely it's in a chaos, but what we see that is distinct from years in the past is that there are not any more necessarily people who just seek to fulfill the needs and desires of their own nafs, but
Hadith - Du'a of the Prophet:
"O Allah, I seek Your protection from incapacity and laziness."
Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6363; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2706
'Ajz is not incapacity in the sense that I don't have the literal ability to do something—that I can't lift this whole stage, it is beyond my ability. 'Ajz is an incapacity that I have the ability to do but for whatever reason I still just don't do. I have the ability to actually be, I have the ability to perform, but for whatever reason I am hesitant, I just don't do.
When you have the ability to go and do good, you just go do it simply because that is what is pleasing to Allah. Not to see what you will gain in return but you see where the other will benefit.
The Example of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
This is how Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, saw the world. In constant movement he was giving of himself to others. Never stopping for a breath for anything. There was no vacation in the 23 years of Revelation. There was not a time where he said, "Hold on I got to take time for myself."
Allah has to send Revelation down to tell people that you need to not be in his house so much. Because he is just bringing people in.
The Story of the Goat
A gift of a goat comes to the home of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. It is a gift, it is not sadaqah, it is not charity. He can indulge in it. But rather than taking of it for himself he starts to distribute it to his companions who are more in need.
To understand the magnitude of this hadith and the remarkable character of this man, peace and blessings be upon him—don't think of hadith in isolation of each other. He lived an entire life.
Context:
We have narrations in the prophetic tradition that tell us that days would go by without a flame being lit in the home of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. He has got nothing to cook on the fire. We have narrations that would tell us that the Prophet would wrap rocks to his waist to balance himself out from the sheer weight loss he had from not eating so much.
And now when a gift of a goat comes to his home he has ability to take from it whatever he wants. But he gives it away until all of it is gone except its neck.
Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) comments on this and she says, "None of it is there for us but its neck."
But Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, does not see what it is that he has lost but only what others have gained. He does not see where it is that he experiences detriment but where others will benefit.
And when his beloved (may Allah be pleased with her) says that none of it is there for us but its neck, he, peace and blessings be upon him, says:
"Ya Aisha, all of it is there for us but its neck."
What a beautiful way to see the world. What a beautiful man was Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.
Values and Principles
And you want to be able to think for yourself: What is the perspective by which you view this world? What is your ability to truly illuminate it and why are you keeping the blessing that is uniquely you to yourself and not sharing it with the rest of us? Why are you not thinking about what it is that you can take your training, your skill sets, your credential and your wealth and putting it into meaningful strategical institutions and services to build the needs of the Muslim community and fill them in ways that make sense?
We're not driven by values because I would argue many of us don't know what our individual values are. You know that truth is important to Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. He was known as the trustworthy one even before he was known as Nabi. You know that integrity is important to him. You know that he demonstrates his values through his actions.
But if we were to sit down and have a conversation and I was to ask you, What are the guiding principles of your life? What are the things that you believe in so much that they dictate every deed and decision that you interject into this world? What would you say?
And not the answers that you are supposed to give, quote unquote. Not somebody else's answers that you heard on a stage that was telling you this is what you're supposed to do, but values that you reflected upon, you contemplated upon. And you said that these are the guiding principles of my life.
What are those? And how do you understand them and do you truly live by them each and every breath that you are blessed to breathe into this world?
Finding Your Passion and Skills
You gotta start to think about it. Because the missing component in this dunya is you, more importantly, than anyone else.
I'm not putting you on a platform that should be I'm gonna start doing things that I don't have the ability to do. You have to think about what you are passionate about and you think about what you are skilled at and then you start to share those things.
And if people have put you in a place where they allow for you to be satisfied with doing very little, do your best, be in pursuit of the pleasure of the divine.
And if people have let you believe that you have nothing to offer, they are wrong. Don't let them dictate your life.
The Transformation of Umar ibn Al-Khattab
Because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, took the people who his society deemed to have no value whatsoever and utilized them to be of the most transformative leaders of their time.
Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him)—nobody thought he could be anything good.
This was a man who in his own words he would tell us that he drank alcohol prior to his becoming Muslim. Umar tells us of a time that makes him laugh and a time that makes him cry. Most of you probably know this.
That he says that I was on a journey once in the days before he became Muslim and I had forgotten my traveling idol at home. So I took some dates that I had and I fashioned a makeshift idol from it and then I started to worship it. And then later on when I got hungry I started to eat from the idol that I was just worshipping. And when I think about it, it makes me smile.
Umar says that he also remembers that that time was a time when people did not honor the rights of women. They wanted sons, they didn't want daughters and it was customary for people to literally bury their daughters alive in the ground. And Umar says that I can remember feeling my own daughter's hand go limp in my hand and in some narrations that her hand whisked against the bottom of his beard. And when he remembers it, he would cry.
Umar, before he became Muslim, he had a woman who was a servant of his by the name of Lubayna. Umar used to beat this woman so much when he would stop he would say, "Don't think I have sympathy for you. I'm
just tired. When I get my strength back I'm gonna keep going."
That was Umar before he became Muslim. Nobody thought there was anything good in him.
The Encounter with Layla
He sees a woman by the name of Layla who looks as if she is about to be going on a journey. And when Umar inquires where it is that she is going, Layla says to him, "You have made it very hard for me to worship my lord here. I have to go someplace else where I can do so."
And she expects now an onslaught at the hands of this man Umar ibn al-Khattab—this man who drank alcohol, this man who buried his daughter alive, this man who would beat Muslim women. And to her astonishment he says, "Go and have peace on your journey."
She goes home and tells her husband, a man by the name of Amir. And Amir says to her, "What is it that you are saying? You sound as if you believe that Umar ibn al-Khattab will actually become Muslim."
And Layla says, "Why can't he become Muslim?"
And her husband Amir says that, "Know this, the donkey of Umar's father will become Muslim before he does."
The Prophet's Vision
Nobody thought there was anything good about Umar ibn al-Khattab except the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
And when each and every other person was looking for a reason to push down, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was looking to see where there was goodness.
Hadith - The Prophet's Du'a:
"O Allah, bring some honor (izzah) to Islam, bring some strength to Islam"—and it is not physical strength, it is izzah, it is strength rooted in dignity and respect—"give us some of that strength by the one of the two men who is more beloved to You: Abu Jahl [Amr ibn Hisham] or Umar ibn al-Khattab."
Reference: Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3681
We know how the du'a is accepted and we know how the situation changes drastically. That Umar goes and he knocks on the door and the companions they all run to different places. Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) who becomes Muslim just a short time before says to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, "Let me open the door."
The Prophet goes to Umar and says, "Is it now not the time?" And Umar becomes Muslim. The situation changes drastically. For the first time they are walking through the streets in public. Nobody can challenge this man. Under his leadership the community grows many fold. When he is a khalifa the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, says of him:
لَوْ كَانَ بَعْدِي نَبِيٌّ لَكَانَ عُمَرَ
Law kāna ba'dī nabiyyun lakāna 'Umar
"If there was a prophet after me it would be this man Umar."
Reference: Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3686
Don't Let Others Define You
What if Umar believed the people who said he couldn't be better? What if he believed every voice that put him into this box that said there is no hope for you to change?
If people are doing that to you, you gotta put their voices aside. You gotta really build a connection with your Lord, your Creator, and you find strength and motivation to go and light up this world with the brilliance of you because that's what we need.
And if you are the person who is pushing away the Umars, if your voice is filled with that rigidness, that harshness, that inability to connect to where the person is actually coming from, you are uncompromising, you don't know where to really see and reflect where the person is coming, and every day they live prior to that moment that you are engaging them you can't see them bigger than the worst of their actions, then you need to get out the way because you don't want to push anymore hearts aside.
You don't want to remove from us—not just because we are in a place where we need that talent, we need that leadership, we need that strength—but ultimately you want to think for yourself: How will you stand in front of Allah if you are the reason that you pushed anybody away because you couldn't think of them bigger than what you had constructed them to be through your own preconceived ideas and notions? That your interaction with them was only to elevate yourself by denigrating them and everything that they were trying to offer.
Modern Examples: Activism and Social Justice
This is a critical time. I live in New York City in Manhattan. I wear many different hats so to speak. Three days ago I stood at a funeral for two police officers who were shot with 30,000 people. About a week prior to that there was a rally that took place with tens of thousands trying to have their voices heard because of social inequities and institutionalized racism.
And the organizers of that protest reached out to me saying, "Can we meet in your center before we get things started?"
And if you took a look out of our Islamic Center's prayer room into Washington Square Park it was filled with people who wanted to have that right restored. But there is tension and what is missing is you and I understanding our role.
When I look at pictures of people who are active in that movement, most of the photographs that are taking place of the activists in New York City include one young woman that I would ask you to make du'a for. Her name is Linda Sarsour. She is a Muslim Palestinian activist from Brooklyn. She is in every picture, she is at the front of every gathering, she is at every meeting.
But the rest of us need to be there as well. We need to be able to reflect and understand: What does it mean to us? What does it mean to us to be part of a movement that is trying to get this world to understand that Black lives matter?
What does it mean for us to be part of a reality that allows for us to take the best of our talents and skills to be there for people who may or may not be from the same walk of life as us? Their skin color might not be the same as ours but we truly remind ourselves whose Sunnah it is that we follow. And without condition and qualification the Prophet was there for everybody.
Confronting Racism in Our Communities
And there is a lot of things that need to change. I was speaking to a community and I told them that these were things that were happening and that meeting took place at our center. And one of the people there said, "That's remarkable you all do things like that."
I said, "Yeah, why would we not?"
He was like, "I wish we did things like that." He said, "Why do you think Muslims don't do those things?"
That's a question we have to ask not rhetorically. When I was in that community I will tell you what the realities were that were being faced.
When I went to a masjid it had a beautiful basketball court and this guy who said to me that I wish we were part of movements that stood for those who we have the ability to stand for without qualification, he said, "You know where we're at these days on this basketball court? One day there was tons of young African American boys who came to play basketball and someone in the masjid felt that there was too many black kids playing on that court. They went to them and said, 'If some of you don't leave we're going to call the police to tell them to have you leave.'''
That's the reality in our community that we have to deal with.
I sat down with a young man who was active in bringing awareness of Islam to Spanish speaking communities and he said, "When I went to the local masajid that were built with millions of dollars saying that we should launch a program to bring more people in - Spanish speaking sermons and lectures and duroos—the man said to me, 'Well hold on we want to think about this because if too many Hispanic people become Muslim then we're going to have to start giving them our zakah.''"
Where are we at? How do we understand what it really means to practice this faith?
Making Islam Beneficial to Society
Think about how you're being a Muslim is something that does not just bring benefit to you but think about how you're being a Muslim is something that brings benefit to the people who are around you. You have it, you have it. And if there are voices that make you think otherwise, push them aside. Talk to the people who make sense, people who understand you.
If you are not doing well inside, you are hurting inside, don't carry that inside of your heart. There is no shame in talking out with people the realities of your life experiences. There is no problem in opening up, in letting somebody know that this is something that has happened to me, this is a place where I have some kind of anxiety, this is a place where I have an issue. This is what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was for his companions—that they could come and they could talk to him knowing that he would get where they were coming from, that he was able to walk with them through their challenges, he was able to walk with them through their mistakes, he was able to walk with them through their sins.
The Strength of the Companions
The companions were not a good generation simply because they were perfect, but they were good and strong because when they fell they knew how to get back on their feet and they knew how to help each other up. That's what you and I should be doing for one another.
And if nobody has helped you up, understand that whether this whole world is with you or you feel as if you are most alone, Allah is closer to you than your own jugular vein.
And that does not have to be a sentiment that casts doubt or fear that paralyzes you, but you understand that He is always watching over you, that He is there with you even when you feel as if no one else is there with you.
Quranic Verse:
"And We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein."
Reference: Quran 50:16
When you build that relationship with Him and you spark your inside in such a way that you truly allow for yourself with that certainty to go out there and bring that presence to this world that is thirsting for it, you are going to start to see certain changes, you are going to start to see things will be different.
Every Heart Matters
You don't have to be the person who stands on the mimbar to work at a soup kitchen. You don't have to be the person who leads the halaqa or does the dars or has memorized the entire Qur'an to be the person who donates or the person who tutors or the person who provides counseling or helps to build the counseling center.
You and I, we are going to be the ones to build these services and build them in ways that make sense.
It starts by taking a look within and understanding that each heart is important simply because it's a heart that is attached to a soul that exists in a living body—whether that's a body of a Muslim or not. You start to be that change for us and you don't undermine your ability to impact even one.
The Story of the Starfish
There's a man that was known as an author of his time that would go out to be in nature to gain inspiration for his writings. And one day he goes to a beach to gain that inspiration and as he is walking down the shore he sees a figure in the distance that intrigues him. It looks as if it is dancing.
And when he gets closer he sees that it's not dancing but it seemingly is picking something up off the ground and throwing it into the water. And when he gets even closer he sees that it is a young boy and washed upon that shore are thousands and thousands of starfish and the boy is throwing them into the sea.
So when he gets close enough to the boy he says to him, "What is it that you are doing?"
The boy looks at him and says, "I'm throwing the fish back into the sea."
And the author says, "Why are you doing this?"
The young boy says, "They have washed up onto the shore and if I don't they are going to lose all their water and they will surely die."
The author, he looks up and down the shoreline and all he sees is fish upon fish. He says to the boy, "There are so many of them. There is no way you will be able to get them all back into that water. What is the point of what you are doing? What difference will it really make?"
The young boy, he looks at the author, he looks down at the ground, he picks up one of the fish, throws it into the sea. He says:
"It made a difference to that one."
Final Message
If you can impact even one heart don't let it go. If you have the ability to be the one that interjects some benefit into this world, do so in pursuit of the pleasure of your Lord.
And if I can ever be helpful to you in any way please don't hesitate in reaching out. Our geographical physical distance should not be a reason as to why we are separate from each other. Because we feel the pain when fools in the names of our faith bring whatever burdens they do to the way people understand this deen. But if we can feel pain from people miles away, so too we should be able to heal one another even if we are miles away from each other.
And if we are only meant to be in this place at this time together, then I pray that inshallah ta'ala Allah gathers us all together again with our loved ones in the best of places in the world beyond this one.
Closing Du'a
May Allah guide us and protect us. May He bless us with knowledge that benefits us. May He bless us with the tawfiq to understand and implement that knowledge into our daily lives. And may He guide and bless us all.
Wallāhu ta'ālā a'lam, wa billāhit-tawfiq
And Allah knows best, and with Allah is success.
Assalāmu 'alaykum wa rahmatullāhi ta'ālā wa barakātuh
Note: This powerful talk emphasizes the importance of making Islam relevant by being of service to society. It challenges Muslims to recognize their God-given talents and use them to benefit others, regardless of background. Through the examples of Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them all), we learn that true faith manifests in selfless service, seeing potential in others when society doesn't, and building institutions and spaces that serve those in need. The message is clear: if we were not here tomorrow, would society miss us? That is the standard we should strive for.