The cultural pull when fear and concern are at an extreme high is to withdraw, to isolate, to hold back. Entitlement and hair-trigger behavior are at an all-time high, regardless of your circumstances. What is there to do? To be generous, to be kind, to look for where you can help. We all have different resources. Some of us have more time, some of us have money, some of us have good advice, some of us have better health. We give what we have.
It’s not always easy. There is a lot of heartbreak, and instead of pulling away, we can lean in. We look for where we can contribute.
It seems almost impossible to see others’ points of view. We have become a world of sanctimony, where our point of view and those who agree with us are the only truth. It’s not easy to validate someone else’s opinion if it is counter to our own. It’s not easy to be curious about what someone else is saying if it is in opposition to what we think. It’s not easy to distinguish what is projection, what is familial trauma, or whether there is merit to what is being said. We certainly want to encourage diverse points of view, but we also want to have the flexibility to move off of a point of view and find lessons and value in something else. Too many of us have set up residence in our opinions.