This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanthan. This week we're busy working on some new episodes

for the show, so in the meantime, please enjoy the story from October 2017. It's one of our favorites.

There's a popular inspirational quote, often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, that's made its way

onto t-shirts, mugs, and posters. Be the change you wish to see in the world. It's a noble idea,

but the truth is, few of us follow it. Life gets in the way. We compromise. We put aside our

idealism as youthful naivety. But what would happen if we didn't do this, if we stood fully

by our principles? Plenty of people have tried. Julia Butterfly Hill spent two years in a redwood

tree she named Luna to keep it safe from loggers. There's some people, I'm just a dirty tree hug and

hippie, but I just, I can't imagine being able to take a chain, so there's something like this.

And then there was Levoi Finicum, an Arizona rancher who defied the federal government and kept

grazing his cattle on federal land after he was asked to remove them. This fight I'm making,

America is not about cows and it's not about grass. It's about to freedom of our land.

This grazing right is my personal property right, I own it.

Julia Butterfly Hill saved the tree after she and her supporters negotiated an agreement with

the timber company. Levoi Finicum was killed by Oregon State police during a standoff on a

federal wildlife refuge. Both said they had no choice but to take their drastic actions.

It was a matter of principle. But the truth is in daily life we often veer away from people like

this. They can be exhausting, grading, they stick to their principles no matter how small the benefit

or how great the cost. This week we have the story of a couple with ideals that run just as deep,

a couple who wanted to live their own lives based on what they believed without compromise

and without regard for the consequences. It was far harder than they could have ever imagined.

There was a lot of loss involved. What it takes to walk the walk this week on Hidden Brain.

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