Editor’s Note: It is Day 128 of the Great Con II. Tariffs continue on our allies for no logical reason, while getting the administration to move on Russia took more deaths in Ukraine and a pissing match with Putin. The administration also imposed a tariff on Brazil, but not for economic reasons. Because they are working to bring their former President and wannabe dictator to justice. In the meantime, American police forces, paid for by public funds, are using masks to conceal their identities.

Remember not to norm this shit. We will still be here.

Everyone has heard that the devil is hiding in the details, used as a cautionary note to avoid swallowing slogans and sweeping assumptions. Sometimes we call it getting into the nitty-gritty, or using a fine-toothed comb, both holdovers of Americans talking to other Americans to look before they leap, use two ears before opening one mouth, and trust but verify.

It’s wisdom that cannot be lost.

Reality is always in the gray, in the minutiae of life.

This gray is where the truth is.

No matter how much effort is made to divide us into groups, get us to think in a certain way, we do not exist as opposites.

Life is not black and white.

It’s why we have laws and then degrees of law, or contracts with a ton of verbiage, or decisions with dissenting or concurring opinions, or commercials with 100 words said in five seconds. It’s to try and make things seem absolute.

Sometimes we’re right, and sometimes we’re wrong, but that’s part of living in the gray. It may feel more simple or comfortable to be absolute, but it is still not correct.

Across America, from corporate boardrooms to classroom discussions, from political debates to judicial chambers, we're witnessing a dangerous erosion of contextual thinking—the ability to understand that truth rarely exists in absolutes.

We have a tendency toward what psychologists call "black and white thinking"—a cognitive pattern that forces complex realities into simple either/or categories. This mental shortcut is used all the time at work, at the dinner table, and in media. It has served us well when a sabre-tooth tiger wanted us for dinner, but in today's world the sabretooth is extinct and the predator is more human. It takes advantage of that fear-based black and white thinking.

Our modern education system is one tool that works to overcome this limitation. We are exposed to great minds and thinkers and triumphs of human civilization. We develop better reasoning skills, more gray area, with exposure to history, literature, and science.

Yet many of our institutions, religion, private schools, and demogogues give in to a fear of the gray and work to actively reinforce black and white thinking, creating a generation that struggles to navigate the nuanced realities of modern life.

I want to use the "One Big Beautiful Bill" as an example since it is a masterclass in black-and-white framing. First, humans are not naturally opposed to something both “big and beautiful,” but context reveals a different story entirely. Hidden within this massive legislation are provisions that are certainly not beautiful. For example, the bill eliminated crucial clean energy programs and cut pollution reduction initiatives. Under the guise of energy independence, it effectively forces Americans to continue an overreliance on expensive and dirty fossil fuels at a time when most advanced nations are dramatically moving toward alternative energy. The context transforms the "beautiful" into something far more troubling—a legislative Trojan horse, a gift that isn’t a gift, that undermines both environmental protection and true energy independence.

This pattern of contextual blindness extends far beyond politics. Take the reflexive "support our troops" rhetoric that dominates American discourse. Of course we should honor those who serve, including after their service is finished. We have a long line of veterans in our family tree. My father was never more proud than serving as a chaplain in a local VFW long after his years of service, often called to lead prayer during memorial services.

However, context demands we distinguish between supporting the institution of military service and excusing individual misconduct or warmongering. When military officers engage in conduct unbecoming their rank, from dishonesty to criminal behavior to blind support for unlawful or immoral orders, this becomes complicity in black and white thinking.

The same principle applies to law enforcement. Supporting police as an institution doesn't require ignoring the documented cases of officers who abuse their power. Context reveals that police officers often leverage their professional relationships and insider knowledge to evade accountability, creating additional dangers for their victims. Recognizing this reality of a “blue shield” isn't anti-police—it's pro-accountability, and ultimately pro-public safety.

But perhaps the most insidious aspect of our contextual crisis lies in how institutions are systematically removing the ability to think contextually from decision-making processes. In schools across America, teachers report steering clear of complex social and political topics not because of formal restrictions, but because of informal pressure and fear. Nearly two-thirds of teachers nationwide now limit their instruction on charged topics, effectively double the rate in states with explicit restrictions. This creates a generation of students who never learn to grapple with complexity, never learn to question authority, and never develop true individuality needed for contextual thinking.

In medicine and public health, we’re now dealing with more disease from drastically unsound and selfish decision-making. Contextual thinking would quickly honor the debt of generations past who suffered through measles, mumps, and tuberculosis before science and doctors found cures via vaccines that virtually eliminated them.

Not anymore.

Because of black and white thinking, groups of people without any context have pitched vaccines as an individual freedom, discounting the facts of reduced disease and longevity of life.

The corporate world has followed suit toward the black and white, with human resources departments increasingly codifying acceptable behaviors and responses rather than teaching employees to navigate complex interpersonal dynamics themselves (see Issue 83). This approach transforms nuanced human interactions into checkbox exercises, stripping away the contextual understanding that makes workplaces truly functional. I have been involved with numerous HR functions where trying to fit situations into checkbox procedures lost the ability to recognize when context demands to stop digging.

Contextual resistance runs deep. Research shows that people’s behaviors and decisions are heavily influenced by environmental factors, social cues, and situational pressures, yet acknowledging this reality requires admitting that our choices aren't purely rational, that we're more influenced by circumstances than we'd like to believe. If I walk into an office that has religious motifs on the walls, am I going to get real context or black and white thinking? If a police officer comes from the military vs. a graduate who wants to be a community asset, which one will bring more context to the situation and which will resolve issues more by force? If a mother complains about a book in a library, does that override the power of the library with its thousands of other pieces of literature? My grandfather, a marine at Iwo Jima, assumed his life was saved by the dropping of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima in 1945, though the bombing obliterated tens of thousands of Japanese citizens.

Context is at the heart of wisdom.

For many, it's easier to retreat into black-and-white absolutes than confront the uncomfortable truth that context, even our own personal context, shapes everything.

Embracing the reality of context carries profound costs. When we ignore it, perhaps by listening to only one news source or couching every action in a religious scenario, we can make decisions based on incomplete information. When citizens ignore context, they become vulnerable to manipulation by those who understand how to exploit cognitive biases and emotional triggers.

In a democracy like ours, the ability to think contextually isn't just an intellectual luxury—it's a civic necessity. Voters who can't distinguish between supporting an institution and excusing its failures will make poor electoral choices. Citizens who can't recognize when a man’s words are misaligned with a lifetime of his actions are choosing cognitive dissonance. Workers who can't navigate complex interpersonal dynamics will more readily throw their colleagues under a bus. Shoppers who don’t question sources will leverage cheap today for their children’s future tomorrow.

Our economy increasingly demands emotional intelligence, or the skill to see context. If we don’t improve in this area, believe me, corporations will simply automate with robots even more and disperse completely the need to worry about any human interaction.

We need what researchers call "contextual guidance"—the ability to gather information from multiple sources, consider diverse perspectives, and understand how circumstances shape both problems and solutions. That’s what home life and education is supposed to teach.

This means understanding that creativity and freedom bring profound change and sometimes uncomfortable choices. It means supporting teachers and students to grapple with complexity rather than avoiding it, training employees to think critically rather than just follow protocols, and encouraging leaders to embrace the discomfort that comes with acknowledging uncertainty.

The amount of contextual blindness in society is very high right now. Rural voters are labeled as uneducated and easy targets for charlatans. City dwellers are labeled as soft, out of touch, and infested with crime. Such labeling benefits a status quo that has grown rich off of black and white thinking, and created a society of people who mistake simplicity for clarity and absolutes for truth.

If we are to reclaim the art of nuanced thinking, recognizing that we live in a complex world, we must support the ability to see in the gray.

It isn't a weakness. It’s where we are supposed to be.

And it’s the only thing that will save our democracy.

What I find inspiring is the life journey that Ms. Ellis has gone on. That’s what I want you to focus on from this article. First, she became a successful actress at a young age, went through trauma, picked up the pieces to become a journalist, then entered another stage of life and became an attorney.

Recognize that it is sometimes adverse events that send us in a direction that we may never have been on. The key is to stay curious, stay open, and don’t give in to apathy or despair. It can be difficult to stay on this path, so I like to share examples when someone successfully does it.

Face the Nation chose to do their whole show on an interview with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, who has created such PBS film documentaries as The Civil War, Baseball, and The Vietnam War. Burns is getting ready to release the new documentary on The American Revolution, coming up in the Fall. The interview covers a lot of territory, from the importance of people like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, but also doesn’t shy away from their dysfunction and hypocrisy. Burns’ talk is a good watch, almost like listening to a Sunday lesson, as he covers history and the struggles of the revolution and extolls the virtues that make America what it is trying to become.

It may be forgotten that the early Americans were divided even then, with some wanting to remain loyal to the crown and others seeking independence from England. There’s a back and forth and stops and fits that may simply be a dominant feature of people gathered under a democracy. He has pulled out a lot of diverse voices to show how the concept of America is a work in progress, and the importance of hearing those voices even more today.

I’m sure we are going to learn some new things that will have great value. History is the best teacher if we will use it, and at least a portion of the problems we deal with today are because people are missing the sacredness, the fight, the uniqueness, of what it is to be an American in America.

We have always had divisions and conflicts, but the dream of a more perfect union is always there. Burns also takes a moment when asked about PBS, to express how important it is to a democracy to keep a quality of information flowing to the public. He relates how in some places, PBS is the only station available, and how PBS was able to support his documentaries when others wouldn’t. PBS is “an American institution that represents everybody.”

Indeed.

And Now….

We are in the middle of summer. Keep up your reading and your progress. Continue to practice your gratefulness. Find one minute of time after you’ve read this to simply sit and be.

Sit and be.

Always strive to be a good human.