HIGHER GROUND: Welcoming the World to Dallas With Kindness
By Kyle Ogden
This summer, the world is coming to Dallas.
As thousands of international visitors arrive for FIFA matches and celebrations across our city, they will encounter many things that define Dallas today — energy, ambition, growth, innovation and hospitality. They will experience a city that knows how to build, compete and lead on a global stage.
But I hope they encounter something even more meaningful.
I hope they encounter the spirit of our people.
Because great cities are ultimately remembered not only for what they build, but for how their people live together.
For more than fifty years, Thanks-Giving Square has stood in the heart of downtown Dallas as a shared sacred space where people from every background, belief and culture can pause, reflect and reconnect with something larger than themselves. In a fast-moving city — and an increasingly fast-moving world — the Square offers something increasingly rare: a place where differences meet with respect.
Visitors often arrive at the Square unexpectedly. They wander in from downtown streets or nearby hotels, curious about the chapel, the gardens or the spiral architecture that rises quietly in the middle of the city.
But many leave talking not simply about the place itself, but about how the place made them feel.
Welcomed.
Grounded.
Connected.
That matters more than ever.
We are living through a time when so many forces in modern life push people apart. Around the world, communities are wrestling with division, distrust, loneliness and social fragmentation. Technology allows us to communicate instantly across continents, yet many people feel increasingly disconnected from the human relationships closest to them.
And yet, despite all of that, people still long for the same things they always have.
They long to belong.
They long to be seen.
They long to experience kindness, respect and shared humanity.
That is part of what makes global moments like the FIFA matches so meaningful. Sporting events have always been about more than competition. They create opportunities for people who speak different languages, hold different beliefs and come from vastly different life experiences to gather around something shared.
For a brief moment, strangers become neighbors.
Cities become meeting places.
The world feels smaller, warmer and more human.
That spirit is deeply aligned with the mission of Thanks-Giving Square.
At its core, the Square is both a place and an active movement dedicated to bringing people together across differences and helping shape a more connected and thriving city. Through conversations, partnerships, educational programs and gatherings throughout the year, we create opportunities for reflection, connection and shared humanity that extend far beyond the boundaries of the Square itself.
We often say we are working to help people move from common ground to higher ground.
Not by asking people to erase their differences, but by reminding them that our shared humanity is greater than the divisions that so often dominate public life.
That idea feels especially important as we welcome visitors from around the world to Dallas this summer.
To every visitor arriving in our city: welcome.
Welcome to Dallas.
Welcome to a city filled with people of goodwill.
Welcome to a place that believes thriving cities require more than economic momentum and development. They require spaces where people encounter one another with dignity, civility and kindness.
And welcome to Thanks-Giving Square.
Whether you come seeking quiet reflection, conversation, beauty, prayer or simply a moment to pause amid the excitement of the summer, we hope you experience what generations of visitors have experienced here: a reminder that gratitude is not merely a feeling, but a way of living together.
Because long after the matches conclude and the crowds return home, what people will remember most are the moments of human connection they experienced along the way.
A shared conversation.
A welcoming smile.
A moment of reflection.
A sense of belonging.
Those are the things that shape not only great cities, but a more hopeful world.
And that is the spirit we hope every visitor encounters at Thanks-Giving Square this summer.
Kyle Ogden is president and CEO of the Thanks-Giving Foundation.