The Ethics of Commitment; The Signal, June 15, 2025

David Hegg, The Signal; The Ethics of Commitment

"I recently watched the systematic dissolution of several married couples. All of them were good people and there was no infidelity on either side. The reason they failed to keep their marriages together was not some cataclysmic event or circumstance. Instead, it was their failure to live up to the commitments they made as they entered into the covenant of marriage. It boiled down to a gross misunderstanding of what commitment is and what it entails.  

First, commitment is a promise to persevere past the point of convenience, comfort and even common sense. Yes, that’s right. Commitment means staying the course even when it appears that all is lost. It refuses to give up in the face of daunting circumstances simply because what is about to be lost is irreplaceable. 

Think about the commitment of soldiers at war. Those we honor the most are the ones who remained radically committed to their comrades and the mission, even to the point of death. Commitment isn’t wishful thinking. It is a promise sealed with the life of the one who makes it, or at least it is supposed to be."

Hope going into the dark; The Ink, January 18, 2025

ANAND GIRIDHARADAS, The Ink ; Hope going into the dark

"Is this the last weekend of an era? What new day will Monday bring? We don’t know.

Today I found myself returning to some of the wisdom we have featured here from the brilliant and thoughtful Rebecca Solnit, and I wanted to share it with you as well.

By Rebecca Solnit

They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I. The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving. You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is. The pain you feel is because of what you love.

The Wobblies used to say don't mourn, organize, but you can do both at once and you don't have to organize right away in this moment of furious mourning. You can be heartbroken or furious or both at once; you can scream in your car or on a cliff; you can also get up tomorrow and water the flowerpots and call someone who's upset and check your equipment for going onward. A lot of us are going to come under direct attack, and a lot of us are going to resist by building solidarity and sanctuary. Gather up your resources, the metaphysical ones that are heart and soul and care, as well as the practical ones.

People kept the faith in the dictatorships of South America in the 1970s and 1980s, in the East Bloc countries and the USSR, women are protesting right now in Iran and people there are writing poetry. There is no alternative to persevering, and that does not require you to feel good. You can keep walking whether it's sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed."