From SGI USA, I'm Cassidy Bradford, and this is Bootability.

The weekly series where I talk with Buddhists from all walks of life about the power we each have to change our lives and the world around us.

You know that intro? The one you hear every week, the one you just heard. Have you ever listened to it and thought, okay, I get how I can change my life, but how can I possibly change the world?

And you wouldn't be alone in that thought. What with the overwhelming news cycle and media coming from us at all sides?

But you also wouldn't be alone in the thought,

maybe I can make a difference.

Countless SGI Buddhists around the world focus their lives on the happiness of themselves and others.

We're focused on the cultivation of peace through things like friendship and each person's happiness.

So while having moments of doubt or even hopelessness will happen, we don't have to let it be the dominant feeling.

For today's episode, I sat down with three young people who are determined to create a peaceful society.

You'll hear a conversation with Gene Tack of Georgia, Sahaja Rutledge of Utah, and Devin Weber of New York. They share how they think about

societal transformation, maintain hope, and take action. Welcome everyone to bootability, a very special episode today with some wonderful students and recent graduates.

I feel like it's very timely. I don't want to speak for the rest of the world, but for myself personally,

I've been really like, yeah, consuming a lot of news and feeling a lot of just like sense of despair.

You know, does what I do really matter?

And I think each of you, you know, have your own personal kind of journeys regarding that and are acting on it in your local communities and your campuses.

So, which I think is just like really refreshing to hear because sometimes we're just like bombarded with like all of the things going wrong when actually there are so many incredible

things happening in the world.

So just to kick things off, I'll have each of you introduce yourselves.

So you can share, you know, your name,

age, where you live, what you're studying, and anything else that you think is relevant to you.

And then we'll get into, you know, how you started practicing. So maybe I'll have Gene first

...