What was the most surprising thing you learned from it? Why?

What do you think of this? Have you experienced such a moment in your life? Did you or those involved show courage or complicity? What did you take away from the experience?

Maria has a clearly defined set of values and code of honor and talks about the value in knowing who you are. How have you grown and defined your values over time? Have you helped others define their values? Do you think people are struggling right now because they haven’t got a clear sense of their values?

Maria writes about valuing what you have but points out how Westerners in particular take democracy as a given. Do you think Americans are taking their freedoms for granted?

In Chapter 2, Maria discusses how her thinking is influenced by T.S. Eliot’s essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” She writes, “He argued that the way you read William Shapkespeare is affected by the last novel you read, and the last novel you read is affected by the fact that you read Shakespeare. This notion collapses time, space, and tradition because both past and present coexist, changing each other and creating the future…” What do you think Maria is trying to convey by highlighting “The present moment of the past.” What does this mean to you? Have you read works of literature that has affected and influenced your life?

Maria’s Golden Rule is “Make the choice to learn.” What do you think of this rule?

In Chapter 7, Maria discusses social media’s role in amplifying messages from political parties by spreading disinformation, eroding the truth, and amplifying emotions. She talks of social media supercharging emotion as “a fire hose that destroys rational decision making.” She adds that even though people have learned they are being manipulated “they continue to be manipulated because of emotions.” What do you think about this?

In Chapter 2, Maria writes, “I began to realize that the work of art you’re creating is your life; that the person you are today has been created by all your past selves, that your actions today actually change those earlier versions of yourself….The person I am is an act of creation. I can seize the past and transform all I have learned and turn it into something new. I control who I am and who I want to be.” Why do you think Maria emphasizes this? Have you recognized this “act of creation” in your own life?

Maria writes in the prologue, “Democracy is fragile. You have to fight for every bit, every law, every safeguard, every institution, every story. You must know how dangerous it is to suffer even the tiniest cut. This is why I say to us all: we must hold the line. What you do matters in this present moment of the past, when memory can be so easily altered. Please ask yourself the same question my team and I ask every day: What are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?” What do you think of Maria’s sacrifices? Have you thought about what you are willing to sacrifice for the truth?

Yet she encourages people to “hold the line.” Do you think Maria offers reasons to hope?