Toward a Kinder, More Compassionate Society: Working Together Toward Change

shares its title with the 2022 conference of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America and focuses on bringing greater awareness of Black Lives Matter and other efforts in radical empathy and inclusion to Waldorf early childhood programs. Conference keynote speakers and workshop leaders, speaking from a wealth of Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ+ experience and more, adapted their presentations for this unique and urgently needed anthology. "To educate our children in and toward freedom we must understand not only the developmental needs of children but also the context of the society and structures that influence them and us . . . As Waldorf early childhood practitioners, we are invited to develop the spiritual attributes of greatheartedness, humility, curiosity, interest, wonder, and integrity. In these unique and challenging times, we are being asked to see clearly, without any veil of illusion, what influences us. We are being asked to be willing to change, to respond, and to transform. This is potent, painful, powerful, essential work. With collaborative, sensitive, and honest activity, we can go forward together."