Five weeks have passed since I last attempted to share my dilemma in adjusting to a new social-political environment. The assaults on our daily lives and livelihood, especially on black- and brown-skinned working-class people, have been relentless and vicious. The issue I had originally planned to address quickly lost importance with yet another issue demanding attention. This constant flogging by a vindictive patriarch is designed to overwhelm and traumatize us into a state of stupor.

I am currently reading Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues by Kavita Das (USA, 2022), a native New Yorker teacher, writer, and speaker. In Chapter 7: Ripple Effects of Making Waves, she raised the debate about moral clarity in journalism. At the time (August 2021), American journalists were “raising concerns about the recent tendency by journalism outlets to publish writing that is morally reprehensible under the misguided assumption that this is necessary in order to appear balanced by providing multiple perspectives on an issue” (p. 237). 

As defined by Russian American journalist Masha Gessen, quoted by Das (p. 237): “moral clarity is a quest, guided by clear values and informed by facts and context, and clearly aligned with the original concept of journalistic objectivity.” Facts are not debatable.

In my view, the poem “I Know You by Your Scent” by Brazilian poet Ricardo Aleixo, featured in my Poetry Corner September 2025, is filled with moral clarity. Does moral clarity shine through my own writing? Within an alternative reality, where facts and morals have been corrupted, moral clarity has become a minefield. Opposing narratives are punishable with erasure and much more.

It’s easy to erase the historical record of genocide and chattel slavery that makes us look bad as a nation. The truth lives on in our collective stories passed on through generations and in our DNA. Truth that haunts. Truth that cries out for justice. Truth that warps the mind. Truth that negates inner peace.

We are a nation that has turned against itself. As I see it, many forces are at play for the soul (at least, what’s left of it) of our nation. Destruction of the Old Guard/Order appears to be the end game. While competing billionaires vie to consolidate their power, we the people merely become collateral damage.

Nevertheless, we are not powerless. First, we must disconnect from the social media platforms that are corrupting our minds with fear and hatred of those who don’t belong to our tribe. Next, we must find ways to reconnect with each other and with Mother Earth. Above all, we must be kind.