Extremes

Whenever the lid blows off—when abuses of power are exposed and a public is confronted with a nearly subhuman lack of empathy and ethical grounding—it is common for the pendulum to swing hard in the opposite direction.

We seem to be living in a time of exposure. What has long existed comfortably beneath the surface is being ruptured and turned over, revealing an underbelly that shocks many of us.

These are unstable times, and they leave us vulnerable to extremes in our thinking. Heightened vigilance and justified disgust can easily slide into cynicism and blanket suspicion—where anything that remotely resembles past harm becomes suspect.

History offers countless examples of this pattern. Fascist regimes, once overthrown, have often given rise to guerrilla movements that themselves become tyrannical, despite beginning with grassroots energy and good intentions. This is not an anomaly in history; it is the norm. We are far less adept at balance than we like to believe.

And yet, in this in-between moment—between collapse and rebuilding—there is a still point. Another chance.

As anger, disbelief, and disgust rise in response to what has been revealed about our humanity, and about those who abuse positions of authority, we are faced with a choice. We can seek justice—but we can seek it with vision. Instead of righteous indignation that hardens into the same lack of empathy it claims to oppose, we can choose to embody what we wish to see.

We can choose balance over absolutism, humility over certainty, truth over reaction. We can resist the temptation to paint everything with the same dark brush, and instead learn to see clearly—without denial, but also without distortion.

This is not a rare moment in history, but it may be a fresh one. A chance to choose the middle way: free from extremist thinking, free from false or performative righteousness masquerading as justice, and anchored instead in discernment, empathy, and responsibility.