Lately it feels as if every day brings another disturbing headline. I find myself concerned, worried, baffled — and, most of all, deeply sad.

We are no longer who we used to be.

Just last week, I spoke on the news about the violent images our young people are exposed to. Evil, once seen, is hard to forget. My message to parents was simple then, and it still is now: model empathy, teach compassion, practice kindness.

As a society, we cannot become complacent. We cannot look away while children are shot praying in church or at school. We cannot shrug off a person murdered on a train or on a college campus.

In the midst of so much turmoil, I have to ask: Where is our humanity?

Humanity isn’t only who we are; it’s how we live. It’s our empathy, compassion, and our capacity to imagine another person’s experience. These qualities remind us of our shared connection and of the imperative to treat others with dignity and care.

And part of what brings us together is remembering what we already agree on. I’ve seen humanity rise up in powerful ways — strangers rallying around communities devastated by natural disasters, neighbors raising funds for families facing illness, friends showing up when life is hardest. These are reminders that, at our best, we stand shoulder to shoulder and lift each other up.

That is humanity.

Living that out means respecting the lives of others, allowing differences of opinion while maintaining respect, and remembering that no matter where we sit on the political spectrum, we never stop being good neighbors, good friends — or simply good human beings. It means never celebrating the death or suffering of someone simply because they believe differently than us. And it will never be finger pointing at someone who sits at a different side of the table than you.

That is not what this country was built on. At our best, we are a people who embrace differences while standing together, as one humanity. It is more than an ideal; it’s a calling — to treat each other with dignity, even when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable.

Even when we disagree.

My humanity does not depend on the humanity of others. It depends on MY willingness to see the humanity in others — even those I don’t align with politically or religiously.

Humanity is never lost — we just have to choose it. And that choice begins right here, with each of us… in our homes, our schools, our families, our communities.

In our own hearts.

May we choose, again and again, to model empathy, teach compassion, and practice kindness — because the only way we recover our humanity is by living it.