Justice Sensitivity & Pattern Recognition: Surviving in Today's Dumpster Fire

As someone who launched a business a month and two days ago, this is a risky blog post.

However, the reason I started I&E is that I want to have a real impact on making this world a kinder place for all of us, and you cannot make a difference if you don't speak up when it's uncomfortable.

So, here we go:

The weight of last week's events is hitting me extra hard today.

In just over a week, we've watched the world we know disappear. Not that things haven't been changing every day for a year, but last week hit different.

In a just over a week's span, we saw:

• The kidnapping of a sitting head of state in Venezuela (no one likes the guy, but call a spade a spade)

• A NATO ally being threatened with not just rhetoric, but action

• A 37-year-old mother of 3 was murdered in broad daylight and then called a "fucking bitch" as her car rolled away and crashed into another vehicle because the driver was dead
  

Most hauntingly, we saw all of this committed by our former southern friend and most powerful country on earth.

The arrowhead of the global "moral compass" no longer faces north.

As with many people on this earth, neurodivergent (ND) people are deeply affected by injustice. It is a hallmark trait of neurodivergence to be impacted by injustice and unfairness on an existential level. In today's world, recognizing historical patterns, having a sense of empathy and a profound need for justice is heavy. It's too heavy.

It's for this reason (and for this blog post), I say to my fellow human beings who are wrestling with the unbearable heaviness of the world:

What we are seeing today is not normal, and it is that deep. It is more than okay to feel afraid. And sad. And angry.

Being wounded while watching everything we know fall apart is not just "okay", but it shows that you are a human who possesses a shred of empathy.

Don't let these events take away the human in you. Keep feeling the crappy things. Use the sadness, fear and anger (all of which I'm feeling in no short supply) to push yourself forward and to use your voice to speak out. Cry, scream, go to a rage room.. and then get to the work of making the world a better place.

This is what resilience actually looks like: feeling everything, then choosing to act anyway. If we hold the line on our humanity, the future still has a fighting chance.

Together, we can make it through the dumpster fire.

Alex Knight President & Neurodiversity Specialist

Iron & Ember Consulting

*Written without AI*