When I read that a police station was on fire in Minneapolis, I was a bag of mixed emotions. Nothing justifies the actions of the police officers who murdered George Floyd. Riots don’t have a great history of making successful change, but everyone there is human.

There is a human element to all of it that we are all missing. The world has been burning with a global pandemic, economic stress, and the death of a man who should have been presumed innocent and is now dead. Yet, with the convergence of it all, we still forget our humanity. We’ve allowed politics to dictate our feelings about groups of people. We’ve allowed our leaders to make enemies of our fellow Americans. We’ve allowed racial injustice run rampant. How much can we take before we break?

I do not condone burning down the house to spite yourself or those who have wronged you. I do, however, understand that people feel they have nowhere to do with their frustration. No one is listening while white women call the police for banal things that would result in a ticket in normal circumstances. While police murder suspects of color instead of arresting them. While a white man can murder a room full of black parishioners and get arrested peacefully. White men can enter a statehouse with automatic weapons and not raise an eyebrow from law enforcement. (Although, that may have ended poorly if they had done anything.)

It’s time to reset. Stop selfishly living. Stop believing none of it applies to you. Stop believing your freedoms are more important than others. In general, stop, think, and take appropriate actions to right the world.