Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

[this is my open draft blog]

​Friends, if you believe there are gentle ways to speak challenging truths please seek them out, share them, and hold each other to a standard.​​

There's a quote that roughly goes "honesty without humanity is brutality."

​While we could say "it's never your responsibility to deal with how other people feel" the reality is that a lot of people are dealing with fragility that merits some kind of care​ as the instability from negligence and stress often leads to volatile and risky behavior when it doesn't have to be so​.

I can say so from firsthand experience if the literature on neuroscience, psychology, and leadership aren't enough.

Our society sucks at making that kind of shared vulnerability and opportunities for finding strength.

To me, the truth with proper context, is always good.

We have every right to be infuriated that our education systems, federal government, and the healthcare industry failed to prepare and present a cohesive strategy for us to navigate and protect public health. 

While it's important to learn and have the skills, people shouldn't have to scramble to become public health professionals just so they can learn how to protect themselves and their communities.

And I see truth in a statement by Brit Marin that says "all storytelling is inherently political" because politics is the articulation of desired action.

Western academia and science were designed for us to look at things, almost never for us to take action. Most politics as we see it on TV and at dinner table discussions winds up being more about appearances and what we want them to represent than solutions.

But we're in a crisis that pushes almost every other crisis many of us have been working to prevent or solve since this country came to be.

Sharing useful information while honoring the reality that people may be afraid or in need of comfort and psychological assurances is challenging work.

Most scientists deal with data but as they get deeper into their work know that the human connection and communication is where realities and appropriate action can be won or lost. 

Knowing is different from doing, so if you see a way we can communicate hard truths and uncertain risks with gentler hearts, please let us know wherever you see the opportunity as appropriate.

Meanwhile, here are our priorities as we see it for those who care:

1) Step up public health education for public health protections and for navigating the pandemic -- educating yourself? Good, seek multiple and contrasting--even conflicting sources. Try to reason them out + get help and discuss it with others.2) Support health care workers -- PPE, food, emotional support, opportunities to prioritize a life that exists outside of work

3) Support the community -- maybe it's checking in on friends or a neighbor with a call to see what they need, or advocates who are working to make sure residents in Detroit whose water is still shut off, or folks working to make sure prisoners can return safely with everything needed to make a second chance a success