“There are times when I wonder if the world is even getting any better,” he said, toeing a crack in the floor, staring at the ground.

“Yeah,” she agreed, “but remember that the moral arc of the universe bends towards justice.”

He looked up at her, eyes wide, serious. “Do you even really believe that? Because I don’t think it’s bending steeply enough.”

She nodded. “I do believe it,” she said. “But it can bend more.”

“How?” he asked, looking back down.

She held his face and raised his eyes to meet hers.

“If it’s not bending steeply enough,” she said, “then let’s grab a hold of it and start hanging on. The moral arc of the universe might naturally bend toward justice, but we can do some bending, too. We are not to be passive.

We are not to be passive.”