Kindness begets kindness.

The DC metropolitan region is experiencing an off kilter moment. Typically, this place is like so many suburban hellscapes across America – bland, cul-de-sac’d, and self absorbed. This is not a place used to system-wide doubt.

Suddenly we’re zoomed out in our collective mind’s eye and feeling like the one human body that we are actually a part of, where a microscopic and faultless entity threatens the whole system.

When I’ve taken a walk around the block recently and had smiles beamed back at me, I imagine it is because people are for once thinking and feeling. Worrying, fearing, but also awakening. Moments of deep uncertainty give us that nervous but real smile when we meet strangers. Lean in. Why not? This smile is directly connected to our nature as humans: to seek connection, help. To acknowledge each other kindly.

This head space – the chair tilt backwards where you will either fall or right yourself again – this is where philosophers do too much and laypeople too little. I’m wondering how this might go and I’m thinking it’s to good things (my imagination tells me so), though I think it will be through a maze of bad things (my imagination also tells me this).

I once fell backwards off an elevated stage, seated in a folding chair, in front of a crowd and live TV cameras. It was about four feet down. When I landed, I took a breath in and asked myself if anything was broken. No. I stayed down an extra moment rather than stumbling upwards. In this moment, two people jumped to assist me. The first ensured I was upright and unbroken. The other gracefully extended her hand as I stepped back up on stage.

May Allah allow us to channel our deepest kindnesses to each other as we fall, and let that be the conduit for finding our balance again.