A wise man once sang:

Come gather ‘round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
And you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
– Bob Dylan

Of course, he was right. The times are always a changin’: all things forever shifting, everything always in flux.

And right now, that perpetual change feels particularly terrifying and disorienting, as we find ourselves dealing with a never-ending tsunami of Constitutional crises, leadership failures, manufactured emergencies, curated conspiracies, human rights atrocities, and natural disasters.

But perhaps more than all of that, we are surrounded by what feels like a collective shift in the humanity around us; people who seem to be either turning away from the suffering around them, have grown ambivalent toward it, or worse, experience a perverse joy about it. It is the rising inhumanity we are seeing that is leaving us exhausted.

So, with all that worrisome shifting we’re immersed in, where can we find peace, where does stability come, what can we really hold on to? How do we stay human in times when inhumanity feels overwhelming?

We choose to do the work that only we can do, and the only work that we can do: we embody our values within our choices.

What would you say are some of the highest human attributes or qualities? Compassion? Kindness? Generosity? Courage? The good news is, nothing is preventing you from attaining such things. No politician can prevent it. No regime can hinder you. No hateful human being can keep you from being whoever you decide to be.

We stay human right now by staying within the space of our agency, by deciding over and over again who we choose to be.

We stay human by fighting the inhumanity within ourselves; by making decisions that center compassion, that override selfishness, that show bravery, that reflect whoever it is we aspire to be.

We ask ourselves what kind of person the world needs right now, and do our best to be that kind of person.

That helps us stay sane within the turbulence of change:

The human being you are in favorable circumstances is the human being you can be in disastrous ones.

The human being you are in a fully functioning Republic is the human being you can be in one that is failing.

The human being you are when responsible leaders are in power is the human being you can be when your leaders are malignant narcissists.

The human being you are when people around you seem decent and loving is the human being you can be when surrounded by people who seem to have lost the plot.

The human being you are when everyone around you believes what you believe is the human being you can be when no one around you believes what you believe.

You have the capacity to be constant when the environment you find yourself in is changing.

Shift happens, friend.

The times they are a changin’, but you can choose not to let the times change you.

Be encouraged.

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