Each week, public radio's award-winning Humankind podcast presents stories of hope and humanity.
12/30/2025
Podcast Episode: Unconditional Love
What does it mean to give unconditional love? On this episode of Humankind with David Freudberg, we search for answers on a moving visit to an all-volunteer Hospice in North Carolina where all patients receive free care. Human Service Alliance, formed in 1986, established this six-bed hospice, supported by donations, with an all-volunteer staff of doctors and non-professionals. The patients are referred to as guests, and volunteers attempt to treat the guests with unconditional love and to serve them whether by listening, holding a hand or being there to make their last days as comfortable as possible. Some guests at the hospice were convinced that there was no place else like it on earth. People whose loved ones received care at Human Service Alliance, feel that it made a dramatic difference in their final days. The volunteers explain the challenges they faced caring for the terminally ill, but also the moments of joy and kindness that they shared while providing loving service to hospice guests. A truly inspirational look at what it means to give love to your fellow human beings. Listen now at humankindpodcast.org
12/24/2025
Podcast Episode: Janet Connors
Janet Connors tells the agonizing story of losing her 19-year-old son, Joel, who was murdered during a home invasion in Boston in 2001. Before the tragedy, she was a long-time community activist, who had campaigned to make sure poor people’s heat would not be turned off in winter and drove families to visit an incarcerated loved one — because prisoners who maintained family connections had less recidivism. But upon her son’s sudden death, Janet’s core beliefs about justice were now “shaken to their core”. She decided to reject paralyzing depression and vengeance, and instead devotes her life today to teaching public school students about “restorative justice”, a philosophy that encourages forgiveness when wrongdoers accept accountability. We hear from Janet, and several members of Diploma Plus, a small learning community at Charlestown High School, one of several public schools where she works in Boston. She also serves as a Fellow at the Suffolk University Center for Restorative Justice. Listen now at humankindpodcast.org
12/23/2025
Podcast Episode: Deep Listening
When we're in a disagreement, it’s sometimes hard simply to listen to the other person. The emotional temperature may be high and we can shut down in a defensive posture. But skillful listening is a core practice of conflict resolution and, potentially, a doorway to improved relations, greater self-understanding, and personal growth. Here we explore some principles of deep listening in this episode of the public radio series Humankind. We hear the rich reflections of Betty Burkes, a peace educator and Buddhist practitioner, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She emphasizes the value of pausing long enough just to notice what you're actually feeling in conflict. What are you reacting to? This shifts the spotlight from the words and actions of the other person to one’s own experience. It can promote self-reflection and healing. Burkes embraces a philosophy known as Nonviolent Communication, which was developed by the late Marshall Rosenberg, PhD. She also probes ways out of the dilemma that results when pain triggers as anger. Then, we examine a search for common ground between two friends in the Washington, DC area: Daniel Spiro, a Jewish attorney and novelist and Haytham Younis, a Muslim imam (prayer leader). Together they co-founded the Jewish Islamic Dialogue Society (JIDS), which convenes monthly discussions drawing on members of various synagogues and mosques. When asked for commonalities among Jews and Muslims, members identified these “unifiers”: being a minority group in America; ultimate values they share: charity, justice, peace, truth, humility and gratitude; as well as similar language and customs. And although often depicted as being seriously at odds, there’s another bond between these two groups: their embrace of monotheism— the ancient belief in a single, universal higher power. Listen now at humankindpodcast.org
12/01/2025
Podcast Episode: An Optimist in Spite of All: Helen Keller
Stricken blind and deaf by a fever at infancy, Helen Keller once described herself as “an optimist in spite of all.” This truly inspiring biography recounts how Keller emerged from solitary confinement in silent darkness to become one of the 20th century’s greatest women and greatest human spirits. Includes readings from her autobiographical reflections and rare audio recordings of Keller and her friend and teacher Anne Sullivan Macy. Comments by Anne Bancroft who won an Academy Award for her performance in “The Miracle Worker” and playwright William Gibson. Hear the amazing tale of how Helen as a child learned to communicate, as well as the tireless crusade for the disabled she undertook as an adult. Also, a look at the spiritual philosophy that gave her strength. Listen now at humankindpodcast.org
11/28/2025
Podcast Episode: Haley House
Would you invite homeless men into your apartment? One woman did just that. On this episode of Humankind, you’ll a story of commitment and service to the poor in which Kathy McKenna founded Haley House, a homeless shelter in downtown Boston. McKenna was inspired by Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker Movement, and the belief that to serve the poor one needs to live among them, and “be present” to their suffering. Along with the man who became her husband, he started taking indigent men into her home. The program soon moved to a larger location including a store front, soup kitchen, and bakery. At Haley House, the recipients of charity give back and volunteer their time and effort to help run the bakery and kitchen. You’ll also hear from D. A. Ekstrom, a baker at Haley House and one of the homeless men who has benefited from his experiences there. Listen now at humankindpodcast.org
11/18/2025
Podcast Episode: Compassionate Friends
The parental agony of losing an infant, child, teenager, or young adult—to illness or accident—afflicts over 100,000 American families each year. Typically it is a shattering experience for the bereaved family. But for the survivors, life goes on, permanently changed. In this moving episode, we visit with Bob and Chris Lewis of Minneapolis, MN. In 1989, their beloved teenage son died suddenly from a car accident. Shortly afterward, they were invited to join the Compassionate Friends, a support group for grieving parents, operated at no charge throughout the US and in dozens of countries worldwide. Here they tell the story of their painful loss, how they came to terms with it, the way it altered their view of life and their spirituality, and their decades-long work as volunteers with other bereaved parents in the Compassionate Friends. Listen now at humankindpodcast.org
11/10/2025
Podcast Episode: Sobriety High School
They’re known as “sobriety highs” and “recovery highs”—schools for students who’ve gotten into trouble with alcohol and other drugs. They teach traditional academics, but also an important life skill—how to navigate the emotional turbulence of adolescence without getting high on substances. The school opened its doors in 2006, one of three recovery high schools in Massachusetts, funded by a five-year grant from the state legislature. Nationwide, there are over two dozen recovery highs, mostly designed for small classrooms and a low student population. The Boston school, with a goal of enrolling fifty students, is called William J. Ostiguy High School, named after its founder, a Lieutenant in the Boston Fire Department and director of the Department’s Employee Assistance Program. Listen now at humankindpodcast.org
11/06/2025
Podcast Episode: Relaxation Response
What are the physical effects of too much stress? What are practical ways to develop a state of inner calm? Which common ailments can be reduced or alleviated by relaxation exercises? A profile of Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Herbert Benson whose pioneering work on the Relaxation Response has helped millions of people learn a simple meditative technique to reduce the harmful effects of stress. In this program, we visit Harvard’s Mind/Body Medical Institute and hear from patients who have benefited from learning relaxation practices. Listen now at humankindpodcast.org
10/30/2025
Podcast Episode: Faith and Social Justice Pt 2
Progressive voices of conscience have long arisen in faith communities. This Humankind documentary explores the spiritual impulse for social change and peace-making at a time of anxiety and adversity. We profile Raphael Warnock, U.S. senator from Georgia, who is also a pastor. Most weekends he flies home to Atlanta, where he leads services at Ebenezer Baptist Church, the same congregation served by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Interviewed at his office in Washington, Sen. Rev. Warnock reflects on his childhood, growing up as the 11th of 12 children living in public housing. He also discusses the current political atmosphere in which some are trying to “weaponize despair” as a way to disempower citizens. We hear Rev. Warnock in a rousing sermon, A Firm Foundation for a Shaky World, which he delivered the Sunday after Donald Trump was re-elected president in 2024. We include remarks by the late Congressman and “civil rights icon” John Lewis, at whose funeral Rev. Warnock officiated. Also heard are the soul-sounds of a Gospel service at Ebenezer. Listen now at humankindpodcast.org
10/28/2025
Podcast Episode: Faith and Social Justice Pt 1
Progressive voices of conscience have long arisen in faith communities. This Humankind documentary explores the spiritual impulse for social change and peace-making at a time of anxiety and adversity. Bishop Budde gave a stirring sermon at the National Cathedral in January 2025, with President Trump and his family sitting, sometimes uneasily, in the pews. She warned that a culture of contempt in American society threatens “to destroy us” and called for a new culture of unity based on humility and respect for the inherent dignity of others. We feature excerpts of her remarks — and those of those other progressive faith leaders in American history, including Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Also heard is David Blight, the Yale University historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Frederick Douglass. Listen now at humankindpodcast.org
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Human Media views the exciting, evolving apparatus of mass communications as an unprecedented opportunity for public service that can help to build a more cohesive sense of community. Our vision of community is based on personal ideals and values, such as compassion, service, generosity, equality and civility. We aim to serve the large and growing audience of people who seek a positive alternative to media negativity and exploitation. Human Media attempts to address — and call forth — the highest part of people. We strive to shed light on solutions, not just problems. And we celebrate the human voice, in all its wonderfully diverse forms — a birthright unique to each person.
There are now many forces bent on thwarting efforts to enlighten and to reveal our essential human inter-connectedness. Those forces will eventually fail, if we stay true to this vision; for in the end, the forces of good always outweigh the others.
Below are a couple of quotes I find inspiring about about mass media. The first is a translation from Latin of an inscription in the foyer of the British Broadcasting House in London:
“This Temple of the Arts and Muses is dedicated to Almighty God by the first Governors of Broadcasting in the year 1931, Sir John Barth being Director General. It is their prayer that good seed sown may bring forth a good harvest, that all things hostile to peace or purity may be banished from this house, and that the people, inclining their ear to whatsoever things are beautiful and honest and of good report, may tread the path of wisdom and uprightness.”
Then, there is this comment by visionary broadcaster Edward R. Murrow in a speech, delivered in 1958, about the promise of television:
“This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it’s nothing but wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.”
The same is true of public radio, and now of podcasting and other emerging media. For all the dazzling capacity and reach of technology, its ultimate effect will be determined by the human beings who use these media for good or ill.
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The Humankind series and our other public radio and podcast projects are produced by Human Media of Belmont, Massachusetts (outside Boston). David Freudberg, Executive Producer.
Special thanks to: David Cruz, Ken Rogers, Miles Blackwood Robinson, Associate Producers; Brian K. Johnson, Webmaster; Cathy Graham and Tony Buck, editorial support; Antonio Oliart, Doug Shugarts, Noel Flatt and Steve Colby, recording engineers.
Human Media (Far Reaching Communications Inc.) is a small, independent production house which performs public broadcasting production and distribution activities in association with WGBH/Boston, NPR, the BTS Center, and Connie Goldman Productions.
Our nonprofit affiliate, Documentary Educational Resources, is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization based in Watertown, Massachusetts. Founded in 1968, DER has a distinguished history of film production and distribution, and has recently expanded to encompass public radio and podcasting.
