I was not yet born when Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. I did not hear his name during my early childhood growing up under the apartheid regime. I was not sure why he was imprisoned in that tiny cell on Robben Island. And I did not know then, that one day, he would unequivocally be my hero. While I have not had the honor of meeting Nelson Mandela, he has been a powerful and real part of my life journey over the past 20 years. I am profoundly humbled by his capacity to forgive and deeply motivated by his spirit and strength.

I dream of a world where children everywhere will put their heads on their pillow at night and not worry about food, shelter or abuse. I hope President Obama finds his footing, plants his feet on the ground and earns his Nobel Peace prize. I dream of forgiveness and reconciliation between Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians. I hope the day comes when we recognize that cultures that repress women are almost uniformly impoverished and subject to disease, famine and war.

Steven Levitt - author of "Freakonomics" - posted a blog entry on his N.Y. Times site looking for out-of-the-box suggestions for reducing youth violence (http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/looking-to-blog-readers-for-good-ideas-to-reduce-teen-shootings/). He was motivated by the recent beating death of a teenager in Chicago.