tribe, we’ve been letting those gifts
go to waste. The world is defined by
its fractions more than by its whole:
empowered communities and mar-
ginalized communities, oppressors
and the oppressed, wealthy and poor,
native-born populations barring
the door to immigrants seeking
safe ty and succor.
That’s not how we were made—
not person to person, at least. But
tribe on tribe, nation on nation, po-
litical party on political party, we do
battle all the time.
We can still change that. If our na-
tions, our leaders , can’t behave, in-
dividuals and communities can. All
around us, if you look even a little,
are examples of people practicing
a sort of freelance decency: feeding,
healing, educating others , sometimes
one-on-one, sometimes on a scale
that’s national or even global.
It is instructive that we are now
beset by a disease that recognizes
none of the ways we divide ourselves.
We’re humbled by the virus, united
in a collective crouch. United we will
rise against it too. In similar union—
if we choose—we can rise against the
biases and injustice that have
too long divided us. —Jeffrey KlugerILLUSTRATION BY ROB DOBI FOR TIME
UWR.opener.indd 57 3/24/20 10:40 PM