Tom Farrey, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program, is a thought leader whose work and perspective should be more familiar to those passionate about lacrosse.

Tom is the architect of Project Play, a ground-breaking initiative that has galvanized influencers at all levels in a collaboration to change the trajectory of youth sports. US Lacrosse has been actively engaged in the work of Project Play since its inception, and the movement has had a positive influence on our sport development strategies.

I reference Tom because he recently shared via Twitter an opinion piece from The New York Times (“Our Culture of Contempt” by Arthur C. Brooks) that got me thinking. It’s a politically neutral piece that laments how polarized society has become and encourages us to fight a growing culture of contempt with “warm-heartedness and good humor.”

I can’t think of a better place to test that advice than through sport, and the pages of this month’s issue offer a number of wonderful examples of the unifying power of lacrosse. Depending on your region of membership, you’ll read about a US Lacrosse-certified coach in Washington who’s blind, a Lacrosse Athlete Development Model success story in Pennsylvania, a model junior officiating initiative in Delaware, a First Stick Grant recipient in New York, an innovative opportunity for low-income families in South Carolina, new urban hubs for the sport in Detroit and northern Mississippi, or a fully adaptive lacrosse program in Colorado Springs.

These stories — with all eight US Lacrosse regions represented in our digital edition  — reflect both the unifying power of lacrosse and the profound impact of your membership support.

After all, we could use a bit more warm-heartedness and good humor these days, don’t you think?