Today's heroes: Travis Dermott, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Yocheved Lifshitz

Here's a post to look back on, whenever you feel the arc of the moral universe isn't bending toward justice fast enough. 

First, the NHL's despicable decision that hockey players were not going to be allowed to wear Pride symbols anymore has been defied already - not by a big-name star but by an ordinary Canadian hockey player named Travis Dermott, at the Phoenix Coyotes home opener on Saturday:

This is allyship in action! 🏳️‍🌈🏒🏳️‍⚧️

Travis Dermott is the first player to challenge the NHL’s @PrideTape ban! #StickUpForPrideTape https://t.co/gNy17vMb4z

— Dr. Kristopher Wells (@KristopherWells) October 21, 2023

Travis Dermott is on a one-year, two-way contract with the Coyotes.

He is not a player who has leverage in the NHL.

Within a sports culture and league that overtly discourages using the NHL’s platform to take a principled stand, this defiance took courage. https://t.co/ovr7BWx9vF

— Dan Robson (@RobsonDan) October 22, 2023

Sounds like Travis Dermott’s use of @PrideTape is only the beginning of a group of NHL players using the symbol to show support for the LGBTQ+ community and to push back against the NHL’s cabal of exclusion.

— Ian Kennedy (@IanKennedyCK) October 22, 2023

Dermott told Yahoo Sports why he did it:

“You want to have everyone feel included and that’s something that I have felt passionate about for a long time in my career. It’s not like I just just jumped on this train. It’s something that I’ve felt has been lacking in the hockey community for a while. I feel like we need supporters of a movement like this; to have everyone feel included and really to beat home the idea that hockey is for everyone.”

Dermott’s Coyotes will host the first Pride night of the NHL’s regular season on Oct. 30, playing the Los Angeles Kings. And we will likely know by then whether there are any repercussions.

Next, here is a wonderful piece by Arnold Schwarzenegger, well worth listening to and sharing widely:  

Finally, this:

In the last second, 85-year-old Israeli hostage released from her Hamas captors reaches her hand back to the terrorist who kidnapped her and says “shalom” - meaning both goodbye and peace in Hebrew.

That’s the difference. pic.twitter.com/KucQQQ7oLt

— Lior Hamovitz 🌍 (@LiorHamovitz) October 23, 2023

Her name is Yocheved Lifshitz, age 85, and her 83-year-old husband is still being held prisoner. The Times of Israel also reports:

The Lifshitz couple, who were among the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz, were peace activists and regularly transported patients from Gaza to receive medical treatment in hospitals across Israel.