I'm an agnostic and will likely remain so till the day I die.

Still, my fondest wishes to the gender-and-sexual minorities in Russia feel as if they constitute prayers. Maybe they are.

The Human Rights Watch video is one part of so much more. 86% of the Russian public (at least) feels that their attitudes are just.

I live a privileged life in a privileged family in a privileged country. Many people have less, far more in fact.

I've grown up seeing endless rationalization of greed and parochial self-interest. I'm tired of it.

You don't have to be a cosmopolitan urbanite to appreciate that humanity is a manifold thing that can surprise you in its mercies and its cruelties, its beauty and its horror.

You do not have to be a "social justice warrior" to feel something break inside of you when you see knuckles bloodied and faces smashed for no reason beyond prejudice.

At this point I do not feel hatred or a revolutionary fervor. Others do, and that is their prerogative. I still stubbornly cling to my ideals, the hope that justice may not simply be the watchword for troubled times.

Please, be safe, whether you are directly affected or otherwise. Sometimes the reality is that "it gets better" is a long-term prediction. And for that fact, humanity as a whole suffers.