I’ve lived long enough to know that it’s possible to crush someone’s spirit into non-existence. To break someone down so they can’t take another step.

Miraculous healing is possible, but it often empowers those who’ve done the crushing to keep doing it indefinitely. Consequences level the field and are, perhaps, the best and most honest gift we can receive.

It is possible for very different people to love and respect each other and to even value the wisdom that comes when those differences intersect—but it is rare. We are so full of ourselves and so very consumed by our need for gratification and external validation. We pursue those things in the name of righteous causes that exist only in our own minds.

The devastating cost of our righteous indignation is the legacy we leave to future generations.