I spent weeks researching the history of money. What I found was a story about how a tool we invented to serve human connection became a system that controls human behavior.

I picked up Leo Buscaglia's book Love expecting something soft. What I found was a challenge. He argues love is learned. Neuroscience says we're wired for it. So which is it?

I caught myself cherry-picking science. And it shook me. I was drawn to the findings that supported what I already believed and quietly ignoring the rest. That's not love. That's fear wearing a lab coat.

I was eleven the first time I heard Cult of Personality by Living Colour. I didn't understand the lyrics yet. Forty years later, the same song taught me something completely different about fear and power.

I picked up a book about testosterone expecting biology. Instead I walked away thinking about prison systems, basketball camps, and what it means to build a world where men can be strong in love instead of fear.

Fear might be even more powerful than love. It’s designed to keep us alive. And when you live in constant fear, your brain actually changes. The amygdala grows more reactive. It starts seeing threats everywhere.

I looked up love in the dictionary. Merriam-Webster calls it “strong affection for another.” That felt like describing an ocean by holding up a single drop of water. So I kept digging.