
Near the U.S. Capitol, people gathered for a vigil to protest possible cuts to Medicaid.
I’m often asked what we can do to fight back against the wrongs in the world and set things right. Sometimes I have an idea, but often I’m just a writer who can describe the problem without knowing the perfect solution. When so much feels broken, the one thing I know I can do is write — even though it sometimes feels like writing is too small a weapon against the powerful forces trying to dim the light in our world.
If you’re reading this, it probably means you care deeply about your country and about the millions of people struggling right now. That care is both a gift and a burden. It’s a gift because compassion makes you human. It’s a burden because you can’t escape the pain and injustice, no matter where you go. Even peaceful moments — watching the ocean, sitting on a sunny beach — can be interrupted by the thought of how greed and pollution are destroying nature.
Mother Nature’s beauty always returns, but it can be hard to enjoy it when you know what’s at stake. If you’re like me, you love all living things, sometimes mourning the loss of an animal more than a stranger. That’s not because human life is worthless, but because too many people seem to act without kindness or awareness. They take without giving back, support harmful systems, and refuse to notice the damage they cause. Unlike animals, they don’t use the instincts or sense they were born with.
For people like you who care, life can hurt more. It might feel tempting to give up and live only for yourself, like so many others do. But I want you to know this: you’re not alone. You are valued for your compassion, your courage to feel deeply, and your determination to turn pain into hope. That is the work of heroes, and the world needs heroes now more than ever.
I’m grateful for you — for standing up for animals, for comforting those who are hurting, for holding the line against cruelty. Together, we form a barrier that cannot be broken. We have to keep reminding each other that there are millions of people like us, and we’re not going anywhere. We are growing stronger.
Our day will come — I truly believe that. Until then, we have each other, and that is a blessing.