We've come unmoored.

I saw a social media post today about a young woman yelling in the face of a toddler at a Harris Rally and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. I don't know what she was angry about or what the issue was, and I don't care.

There is no place in this world for a grown woman getting in the face of a child sitting in a stroller and yelling at her at the top of her lungs. This is abusive behavior that cannot be condoned and should never be tolerated. Children should not be subject to adult aggression in any situation. Period. Full stop.

I don't care about the politics of this situation, left or right, it's WRONG. But it makes me realize just how unhinged we've become in our anger and emotion. It's like we are a bunch of 16 year olds living in their limbic brain, all reactive, emotional, triggered, and unable to discern how to behave in a civilized world.

I don't know why this has happened. Maybe our lives are too soft and we obsess over things that a generation or two ago didn't matter because we were too busy trying to make a living. Maybe we are too entitled, and believe that we should have everything we want when we want it, and that those who stand in our way aren't just wrong, but are evil.

Maybe we are so devoid of meaning in our lives that politics has become our god.

Whatever the reason, I think it's a huge danger for our society to live in a highly emotional and reactive state, where you can't slow things down to understand that what you are doing and what you are saying is not only wrong but harmful. Our nation is a fragile amalagaamm of beliefs, backgrounds, and stories.

It can come apart violently if we are not careful.

I've written frequently here about the need to step back from anger and find some stillness; when you are triggered your limbic brain takes over, and you often react emotionally and seemingly without reason. To combat this you need to take a step back and give your "rational brain" (the prefrontal cortex) a chance to come back online, to guide you to the right decision on how to best react.

No doubt this woman at the Harris rally wishes she would have taken a step back to consider whether verbally assaulting a toddler in a stroller is a real reflection of her values. My guess is that it's not.

The great Stoic Epictetus put it best:

“Don’t let the force of the impression carry you away. Say to it, ‘hold up a bit and let me see who you are and where you are from—let me put you to the test’ . . .”

We all need to put our impressions to the test right now. Take some deep breaths. We have an election coming up that is going to stoke our emotions in a dramatic way. But remember, YOU have control over how you react to the world around you. So find some stillness and remember this: there is more that unites us than divides us. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.