When people and societies enter into a state of shock, they lose their identities and their footing, he observed. “Hence, calm is a form of resistance.” I think about those words often. Calm is not a replacement for righteous rage or fury at injustice, both of which are powerful drivers for necessary change. But calm is the precondition for focus, for the capacity to prioritize. If shock induced a loss of identity, then calm is the condition under which we return to ourselves.
