- [Narrator] "Travels & Traditions with Burt & Nicholas Wolf" is made possible by Goldbelly, shipping stone crabs, pizzas, birthday cakes, and more from many of America's restaurants anywhere, nationwide.

goldbelly.com.

And by Swiss International Airlines, flying to over 100 worldwide locations.

Truly Swiss-made.

Swiss International Airlines.

And by YP Foundation, helping those in need, through education and improving life skills.

Guided by the principles of good deeds, charity, and public welfare, YP Foundation.

And by Five Star Travel, Incorporated in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Since 1985, Five Star Travel has been developing and delivering detailed itineraries for trips, cruises, and vacations to destinations around the world.

Five Star Travel, Incorporated.

(resplendent music) "Travels & Traditions with Burt & Nicholas Wolf" is a classic travel journal: a record of their search for information about our world and how we fit into it.

They travel to the source of each story, trying to find the connections between our history and what is happening today.

What they discover can improve our lives and our understanding of the world around us.

(resplendent music) (resplendent music continues) - For over 40 years, I've been traveling around the world, exploring cultures, tasting local foods- (Burt speaks in foreign language) - Enjoy.

- Cin cin.

And looking at local traditions.

One idea that has stayed with me is that the lines between the great events of history and the quiet struggles of the human heart are connected.

We might read headlines about revolutions, political upheavals, wars, but they're really reflections of the same internal struggles we all wrestle with.

In fact, when we look closely, the personal and the political are often two sides of the same story.

Countries where people are stressed tend to produce unstable and generally unhappy societies.

It wasn't until the middle 20th century that scientists and Western societies began to label a certain combination of physical and psychological responses as stress.

Up until then, the way people felt when their world seemed out of balance had no formal name, and though it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when the word stress became part of our vocabulary, one thing is clear: before the Second World War, no one spoke of it, but after, everyone did.

(explosions boom) In this program, we'll take a look at stress and how it connects to an ancient culture that shapes our present world.

Stress has always been part of the human experience, but understanding it from a historical standpoint might help us figure out how to better manage it in our own lives.

It turns out modern society can learn quite a bit from ancient cultures, but at the same time, our modern lives bring with them unique problems of their own.

In September of 1991, a couple of hikers from Germany were crossing a glacier in the Eastern Alps when they discovered a body frozen and preserved by the high altitude conditions.

At first, the authorities assumed it was a recent death, but as the investigation unfolded, archeologists discovered that it was a man who had lived about 5,300 years ago during the Bronze Age.

They named him Otzi, after the valley where he was found.

It's on the border between Italy and Austria.

Today, he rests in the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology in Bolzano, Italy.

- The Iceman is so special.

He's so uniquely preserved.

He has, really is a complete mummy.

He was found with his tools, with his equipment, and he allows us a direct insight into a time period that was long ago where we didn't know so much before we started to study the Iceman, and he also allows us so many insights into the disease evolution also and the way people lived in this time period, and I think this make the Iceman so special.

- When scientists studied his body, they found a number of injuries, most notably, an arrowhead lodged in his shoulder.

He had bad knees, bad teeth, and likely suffered from a stomach infection when he met his untimely death.

But the most unexpected discovery came from his fingernails.

They showed signs of stress.

Three distinct periods of profound strain during the last months of his life.

What did stress mean to a Bronze Age man?

Did he accept it, did he reject it, or just thought it was something that was meant to be?

Iceman might have hunted for food.

Today, we order our meals with the click of a button.

He scaled treacherous mountain peaks and hid from wild animals.

We drive in air-conditioned cars on paved roads.

But when you break it down, we both deal with the same basic human struggles.

We don't have any more stress or suffering than he did, but the way we experience it is very different.

The way we think about it is very different.

In the ancient world, people didn't see themselves as separate from the natural world.

They experienced their suffering in a different way.

Iceman likely believed that his life and his struggles were part of a larger divine order.

Today, we're less likely to think of ourselves as connected to the divine.

We often see our struggles as random or something to be solved with modern medicine and technology, and yet, despite all the advances we've made, dentists for our bad teeth, surgeons for our bad knees, online shops for everything, our souls are more unsettled than ever.

We read books, listen to podcasts, and attend lectures about following our moral compass, and yet we find ourselves trapped in culture wars and yelling at each other, often forgetting the basics: mercy, kindness, and compassion.

So, what's going on?

Why does stress still haunt us even with all our progress?

To answer that, we need to look back, not just at ancient history, but at our recent past, and in doing so, we may just find the path forward.

We live in a time that moves quickly: fast food, fast fashion, fast everything.

Our culture rewards speed and celebrates self-promotion.

We praise innovation and we love our gadgets.

Social media promised connection, and for a while, it felt exciting, but mostly what it delivered was distraction and often a deeper sense of loneliness.

Recent medical studies tell us that stress is up and depression is up.

It's as if we've stopped having a good time.

We're restless, and we try to fix it with more screens, more apps, and more noise, but the more we try to optimize every aspect of our lives online, the less we are willing to step outside into the real world, where life actually happens.

Maybe we don't need another app.

Maybe we just need to remember something that's worked for thousands of years.

It's called kindness.

Kindness is not only a moral virtue, it's a biological intervention.

Acts of generosity release a hormone called oxytocin.

Oxytocin goes up, cortisol comes down.

It stabilizes our mood and even supports our cardiovascular health.

It's almost like nature designed us to take care of each other.

The science is modern, but the lesson is ancient, and while we were busy being obsessed with novelty, we forgot that kindness might just be the one truth we need.

But the benefits go beyond chemistry and biology.

When we help others, we stop being the center of our own story and become part of something bigger.

We reengage with the world on human terms, and nowhere is that more visible than at the Jan Michalski Foundation.

The foundation is located in Montricher, a small Swiss town near Lake Geneva.

In today's fast-paced world, this place stands out for its peace and beauty.

The place was conceived and built by Vera Michalski-Hoffmann.

It reflects her love of books and her desire to create something lasting and generous.

In 2004, she started the Jan Michalski Foundation, in memory of her late husband, Jan.

They both loved literature and believed in its power to connect people and share ideas.

Today, it's a place where writers from around the world can come to find support, peace, and the space they need to focus on their work.

The foundation's mission is to support literary creation and encourage love of reading.

While the foundation provides direct support to writers through its residence program, the public also benefits.

The local community comes together regularly for exhibitions and cultural events.

A multilingual public library attracts book lovers from all walks of life, and the annual world literature prize creates international excitement, with anticipation as high as the Oscars.

Vera's life has always been shaped by books, language, and the quiet strength of kindness.

At the Jan Michalski Foundation, kindness is built into the place.

You can feel it in the quiet of the forest, in the open library shelves, and in the care given to every detail.

(resplendent music) The word philanthropy refers to private actions for the public good.

The word comes from the ancient Greek word, philanthropia, which means to love humanity.

It was used to describe an act of giving time or money to someone in need.

Wealthy citizens in Ancient Rome would also give money and time to help their fellow citizens.

They wanted to make their city a better place to live.

The key element here is that the action is taken by an individual or a private group and not by a corporation or the government.

Over the years, I filmed a number of stories about philanthropy.

Benjamin Franklin was a devoted philanthropist.

Franklin promoted the idea that each person should give to advance the common good at a level that was commensurate to their means.

On this subject, Franklin once said, "The poor have little, beggars none, the rich too much, enough, not one."

Kindness has not gone away.

It's still here and it shows up when it's most needed.

(bold music) From Switzerland, I traveled back to Cleveland, Ohio.

Cleveland is a midsize city in Northeast Ohio.

It's known for its manufacturing roots, diverse neighborhoods, and the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic.

It sits on the southern shore of Lake Erie and is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a landmark that draws music fans from around the world.

People here take pride in their communities.

On my previous visit, I had the pleasure of meeting Stuart and Susan Muszynski, a local couple with an unusual mission to make the world a kinder place, and not just in theory, but in practice.

They work with individuals, corporations, and governments, helping spread kindness.

- We started 31 years ago doing all-day seminars for schools, and it worked out extremely well.

We could see where if we get an entire grade level on the same wavelength that a school can be totally transformed around the power of kindness.

Actually, we've been in over 9,000 schools and classrooms across the 31 years.

At a certain point in time, we recognized that kindness could be a central core value that we could all rally around.

- [Burt] Values-in-Action, or VIA, is already active in schools across all 50 states, but they soon realized that reaching the wider public would be a bigger challenge and that they needed new partners.

- 31 years ago, when we started with then Project Love, now Values-in-Action, I met with many leaders in the Cleveland area.

I saw that we have a problem with the culture of our country, with the culture of our communities, that people were getting more and more isolated.

We spotted this trend over the past 30 years, and in 2020, just before COVID broke out, we decided to launch our Kindland movement, and we felt through Kindland that we could reclaim that connection of, number one, recognizing that the kindness is happening all around us, and number two, recognizing that the change in the world happens because we're changing the world, one act of kindness at a time.

- [Burt] To make it work, the group is breaking things down into manageable steps and gradually building support.

It's a lot of work, but it works, and over time, those small, consistent actions begin to reshape the community and lead to something truly meaningful.

- We feel the kindness can create that immersive experience, with the classroom, in our area businesses, in our area communities, and we hope with the media as well.

- [Burt] VIA has focused on education for more than 30 years, so they naturally gained strong support in schools first.

However, they aim to build a national movement that goes beyond the classroom.

To do that, they also reached out to businesses, government, and community leaders to help change public policy and influence broader culture.

- I don't think that you can truly be an educator without having compassion and showing and exhibiting a great amount of care for your students.

So, we see what's happening in our world today.

We live in a time where socialization seems to be lacking.

A lot of times, you have students that are on their devices, not just in school, but just all over.

At home, they're talking about screen time.

No better way can we start to change things for the better then by emphasizing kindness in our schools and getting our young people to exhibit kindness to not only students at school, but it will transition to their home life as well.

- We have about 3,300 employees and nearly 40,000 students.

That's a lot of people, and so it's important for us to not lose the common touch with each individual person.

Our ability to create a community, which is our middle name, is so critical to us, and that's why for us, kindness is so important because kindness is one of the building blocks of belonging.

- [Burt] Every good teacher hopes that after graduation, their students take kindness into the real world, and especially in business, where competition and profit often take the lead.

The real test is to hang onto those values when the world around you makes it hard.

- I think a lot of people think that in order to be successful in business, you have to be hard to people, and I think you can still be kind to people and still be firm with them, so I guess it's just become a general rule in my life, and I never really thought about it until I got involved with Values in Action, and you could probably write a book about it and the impact of kindness on business, but, you know, I think it's just a good general rule in a business even as tough and as competitive as investment banking.

- So, in our association, we have a set of core values like most people.

Most companies, most organization have those values.

We take 'em very seriously, but one of 'em is having passion for your industry and having passion means that you know a lot about it.

You reveal those values in the way that we take care of each other, we look out for each other, so even in our organization, kindness is part of it.

I worked for Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's, and there is a man that you wanna emulate, right?

His style with people was very thoughtful.

He would tease people, he would have fun with people and make sure that you do your job and do it well, but he was just nice to people.

People loved him.

You know, he had his own set of core values and one was just be nice.

- [Burt] In Ohio, state politicians also showed support.

They have provided funding to expand Values-in-Action programs in schools to help students grow up in a more respectful and caring culture.

- The fundamental idea is that each of us have individual dignity and worth, and what stems very logically from that is that equal dignity and worth encourages, and it really requires a degree of kindness, of respect, of deference to your fellow human being.

Stuart started looking and saying, "Out of all of the things that people call virtue, is there anything that everybody agrees on?"

and what he came up with was kindness.

Across the political spectrum, across faiths, everybody agrees that kindness is virtuous and desirable.

- [Burt] It looks like Values-in-Action is building a strong foundation by connecting schools, businesses, and government.

The structure is beginning to take shape and people in Ohio are already feeling the impact.

- My nine-year-old grandson is on a baseball team, little league baseball team, these are all nine-year-old boys, and when they play a game against the other team in their league, no matter who wins at the end of it, the two lines have to get up and shake hands.

We could learn a great deal from the nine-year-old kids, couldn't we?

- And that's my point.

When you learn things like that at that age, it teaches you how to be civil and cordial in this phase in life.

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, so we have to start with young people and that's why I like what Kindland does with some of the kids in schools 'cause it teaches those principles early.

- [Burt] As the kindness movement grows and spreads across the country, it could create even more meaningful results in the years ahead.

- Kindness is the kind of thing that can be contagious, and if thousands of eyes are watching us and we are kind in our approaches, then I think that could have a big effect on all of us.

- As we start this journey along with the group that is so powerfully advocating for kindness, Kindland, Values-in-Action.

The reason we were interested and the reason we're looking at it is because we understand the importance of balance and the importance of people understanding the news of the day, what is happening in their world, and that what is happening in their world can sometimes be tough.

- 2026 is a pivotal year.

It's our nation's 250th birthday and we wanted to give our nation a gift, and we wanted that gift to be led by the State of Ohio, where we have the majority of our immersive programming, with 700 schools and many different communities, and we felt that Ohio could be a leader in spreading kindness throughout our nation.

So, in 2026, we decided to launch the United States of Kindness, an extension of Kindland, for people to recognize that kindness is endemic to the American character.

- [Burt] The newly created program is under the direction of Andrea Kruse.

- The United States of Kindness is a national call to action and it's tied to America's 250th birthday, and the challenge is simple.

It's 250 acts of kindness in 2026, and then we want you to talk about it.

How has kindness impacted your life?

What have you seen, what have you been doing, because we know that when kindness is more visible, it will continue to spread.

- In Cleveland and throughout Ohio, I met people who quietly step up to help others every day.

These people are ordinary individuals.

They understand that joy is in giving, not receiving.

Sometimes it's not the grand gestures or public achievements that leave the deepest mark.

Even an ordinary life can become a meaningful legacy.

As William Shakespeare once wrote, "No legacy is so rich as honesty and kindness."

As we take this journey, let's slow down a little bit.

Hold the door open for somebody.

Help somebody cross the street.

We do it because it matters.

For "Travels & Traditions," I'm Burt Wolf.

But wait, there's more.

For daily reels featuring interviews and stories filmed during "Travels & Traditions," visit @NicholasWolfTV on Instagram or @BurtNicholasWolfTV on YouTube.

(peaceful music) (peaceful music continues) (peaceful music continues) (peaceful music continues) (spirited music) (spirited music continues) - [Narrator] "Travels & Traditions with Burt & Nicholas Wolf" is made possible by Goldbelly, shipping stone crabs, pizzas, birthday cakes, and more from many of America's restaurants anywhere, nationwide.

goldbelly.com.

And by Swiss International Airlines, flying to over 100 worldwide locations.

Truly Swiss-made.

Swiss International Airlines.

And by YP Foundation, helping those in need, through education and improving life skills.

Guided by the principles of good deeds, charity, and public welfare, YP Foundation.

And by Five Star Travel, Incorporated in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Since 1985, Five Star Travel has been developing and delivering detailed itineraries for trips, cruises, and vacations to destinations around the world.

Five Star Travel, Incorporated.

(gentle music)