Ugh, the editorials these days. So hard to read, even harder to process. Soaring prices, deadly outbreaks of preventable diseases, and wars . . . It’s enough to make a person despair about the current state and future prospects of humankind. And yet . . .

One of the many things I learned from my daughters when they were little is that the world is full of wonders. . . . Recently, when I came across this passage from the 14th-century Sufi poet Shabestari, I began to understand more fully what my daughters were teaching me. . . .

Alberto Ríos's "Salt Sky" carries me back to the summers of my childhood, reminding me of nights spent in a sleeping bag on the lakeshore beneath a sky so immense that it made the world seem like a larger, kinder place.