Beautiful piece, Laurie. Thank you for writing it.

Principles aren't really principles in fair weather. In fact, principles only reveal themselves when they are difficult—even seemingly impossible—to adhere to.

These principles of compassion, of common humanity, and of individual dignity are most important in times like these—when it seems that every incentive, every emotion, and every argument is compelling us to dehumanize, to vilify, to flatten one another into symbols and abstractions.

When everyone around you has lost their minds, that’s when it’s most important to keep yours. When everyone around you has hardened their hearts, that’s when it’s most important to open yours.

As we have seen with Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin, Daryl Davis, and countless others: When we counter inhumanity with humanity, when we respond to hatred and anger with compassion and grace, when we insist on nuance in the face of oversimplification, we are truly living the principles of fairness, understanding, and humanity that we espouse.

Doing this doesn't just open a window for change in others where there was once a brick wall. It also prevents us from becoming that brick wall ourselves.

Looking forward to reading and hearing more from you, Laurie. Thanks again for the excellent piece.