"All are Punished"

 

Dear Reader,

Lately, the world feels out of control. I find myself moving between anger, grief, and disbelief, searching for words that can hold what I’m feeling.

Reports of people being shot during immigration enforcement leave me frightened and heartbroken. Against that backdrop, the attention given to a presidential ballroom and a monumental arch in our capital feels painfully disconnected from the suffering around us. I keep wondering: Where is the concern for human life? Where is the accountability? What are we choosing to celebrate, and what are we allowing ourselves to overlook?

These questions bring me back to Shakespeare. Near the end of Romeo and Juliet, Prince Escalus addresses the feuding families:

What stays with me is the Prince’s admission: “And I, for winking at your discords too.” He recognizes his own failure to confront the hatred before him. He has suffered, too, and he understands that his authority did not absolve him of responsibility.

“All are punished.”

Those words feel painfully close today. Cruelty reaches beyond its immediate victims. Fear enters homes, grief changes families, and public trust wears away. We all lose something when human suffering becomes routine.

I don’t have a tidy answer. I’m writing because I don’t want to grow numb. I don’t want to become so accustomed to disturbing headlines that I forget the people living inside them.

I want leaders who understand that every life matters. I want accountability when power causes harm. And I want us to keep asking difficult questions, even when looking away would be easier.

Perhaps that is why Shakespeare’s words still speak so powerfully to me. They ask us to reckon with hatred—and with the consequences of allowing it to continue.

With grief, concern, and hope for something better,

A fellow Traveler