Mandy Patinkin

My life exists in an imagined reality.

I'm active in PAX, which is a gun awareness organization. We treat gun safety as a public health issue.

Refugees come to us seeking asylum, seeking freedom, justice and dignity - seeking a chance just to breathe. And people in our country are saying close the doors and don't let them in?

My sense of religion is Einstein's sense of relativity. I don't believe in God. I believe that energy never dies. So the possibility exists that you might be breathing in some other form of Moses or Buddha or Muhammad or Bobby Kennedy or Roosevelt or Martin Luther King or Jesus.

I have the strength from my mother, the survivability. I have wonderful qualities from my mother - but please, Mother, forgive me - I heard judgment constantly about my father.

If you live close to an International Rescue Committee office in the United States, find out how you can assist a refugee family as they transition to American life. Invite a newly arrived family to your home for a welcoming meal. Listen to their hopes and dreams, and share your own.