The Courage to Remain Human

A personal journal entry.. 22nd of October 2026

There is so much unrest around us.

I can feel the tension growing, not only in the world, but between people. In conversations, in the words we choose, in the way we look at one another..

..and I wonder how much of this tension we are carrying within ourselves, often without even realizing it.

I felt it building even before the elections in Hungary in April 2026 and it’s not only political…and what troubles me most is not simply the political disagreements, the opposing beliefs, or the different visions people have for the future…

It is what we are allowing ourselves to become in the name of those beliefs.

Somewhere along the way, we seem to have confused standing up for what we believe is right with having permission to dehumanize those who disagree with us.

Even friendships and families can become divided. People who once shared laughter, love, memories, and years of connection suddenly find themselves standing on opposite sides of something.

It breaks my heart..

..and sometimes, you don't even have to express a political opinion, yet others will make assumptions about you, place you into a category, and decide who you are anyway.

We label people. We judge them. We reduce entire human beings to their words, their associations, their political views or sometimes simply our assumptions.

And then, somehow, we convince ourselves that these labels give us the right to humiliate them, wish suffering upon them, or even wish them dead… Listen, what’s for sure that all of us came here as a vulnerable, fragile newborn and that moment decided that at some point we are all going to cease living.

I have seen comments like this on social media... people openly wishing death upon others, speaking about suffering as though it were something to celebrate, something deserved.

I find it deeply, immensly painful…it physically hurts me.

So painful, in fact, that I have stopped reading certain comment sections, unfollowed pages years ago, and left social media groups.

Not because I don't care about what is happening in the world.

Quite the opposite.

Because I care deeply about what is happening to us as human beings…

I cannot accept that cruelty becomes acceptable simply because we believe our anger is justified.

I don't care how noble we believe our cause to be, how important our values are, or how strongly we feel that justice must be served. First of all justice is not revenge.

Second, even the most sacred cause cannot justify abandoning our humanity.

And please, don't tell me this is normal. Don't tell me that turning against one another, tearing people apart with words, and wishing harm upon strangers is a healthy expression of freedom…

Don't tell me that because we feel wronged, we have somehow earned the right to become cruel.

We know so little about the people we judge.

We don't know what they carry. We don't know their fears, their wounds, their experiences, or the stories that shaped their understanding of the world.

We see a fragment of another human being from maybe saying what they stand for and convince ourselves we know the whole person.

And while we are so busy pointing fingers, how often do we stop to look within ourselves?

How often do we question our own anger, our own assumptions, our own capacity to hurt?

We can feel anger without becoming cruel. We can disagree without dehumanizing…and we can protect our own peace without losing compassion.

As a complementary therapist, I spend much of my time supporting people in reconnecting with themselves, finding moments of calm, and feeling safe enough to soften the tension they have been carrying.

And one thing this work continually reminds me of is that there is always more to a person than what we see on the surface.

Behind someone's reactions, there may be fear. Behind their anger, there may be grief, helplessness, disappointment, or a deep longing to feel heard.

That doesn't excuse harmful behaviour!

But understanding what may be happening beneath the surface is very different from justifying what someone does.

And perhaps this is where a more holistic understanding of wellbeing becomes important.

Because we cannot separate our emotional lives from our physical wellbeing, our relationships, and the world we live in.

When we are constantly exposed to conflict, hostility, and frightening messages, our bodies can remain on high alert. We may notice tension in our muscles, changes in our breathing, difficulty sleeping, or a sense that we can never quite switch off.

Anger itself is not wrong. It is a natural human emotion, even if it has been pictured as evil and sometimes it tells us that something important needs our attention.

HOWEVER when anger becomes something we continually feed, when we allow it to shape the way we see and treat others, it can begin to consume the very peace we are trying to protect.

And this is something I find myself reflecting on more and more.

What good is in fighting for a more peaceful world if we are losing our own capacity for peace along the way?

I am not suggesting that injustice should be ignored, that harmful actions should go unchallenged, or that accountability doesn't matter.

Of course it matters…of course…

But again, justice and revenge are not the same thing.

Accountability and cruelty are not the same thing.

And standing firmly for what is right should never require us to strip another person of their humanity.

Today, I saw a post showing people sitting together in a square in Italy, chanting Om.

And it made me wonder whether meditation can help…

Whether sitting together breathing, praying, or simply remembering our shared humanity can soften something within us.

Perhaps it cannot change the world overnight.

Perhaps it cannot resolve political conflict or undo injustice.

But maybe it can create enough space between what we feel and how we choose to act..

In my work, I often return to this simple understanding: we cannot always control what happens around us, but we can learn to become more aware of what is happening within us.

A moment of stillness. A slower breath. A hand placed over the heart. A conscious decision not to react immediately.

These may seem like small things in a world filled with enormous problems..

But perhaps they are not so small after all.

Because that moment of awareness may be the difference between responding with intention and reacting from a place of hurt.

It may be the moment we remember that anger is a feeling, not an instruction.

That disagreement does not have to become hatred.

That we can stand against injustice without losing ourselves in the process.

And perhaps, instead of allowing what we oppose to define us, we can choose to put our energy into what we stand for.

I'm reminded of the words of Mother Teresa:

“I will never attend an anti-war rally; if you have a peace rally, invite me.”

There is something deeply meaningful in that distinction…just sit with it for a moment. 2.

It doesn't mean turning a blind eye to suffering or injustice. It means being mindful of where we place our attention, what we nurture within ourselves, and what we choose to bring into the world.

Not simply fighting against what we don't want, but actively nurturing what we wish to see more of.

And perhaps this is where our responsibility towards one another begins.

Not in pretending we never feel anger, frustration, or fear.

Not in forcing ourselves to be peaceful when something genuinely needs to be challenged.

But in recognizing that our emotions, however valid, do not give us unlimited permission to hurt others and to destroy..

We can be firm without being cruel. We can challenge without dehumanizing. And we can stand for what matters without abandoning the very values we hope to protect.

Because I believe one of the greatest challenges of being human is exactly this:

To remain human, especially when it is so bloody difficult and challenging.

Not only when life is peaceful.

Not only when people agree with us.

Not only when kindness comes easily.

But when we are angry. When we feel betrayed. When the world seems and feels. unfair. When everything within us wants to react…and rage..

And perhaps that is where our humanity is truly tested.

What I feel today is not even outrage anymore.

It is deep sadness.

A deep, painful sadness at watching people become so consumed by anger that the human being beneath it becomes almost unrecognizable.

Sometimes it feels as though we have to search beneath layers of bitterness, resentment, and hostility just to find the person who is still there.

And I believe that person is still there.

I believe there is still room for compassion, even when understanding feels difficult.

I believe we can disagree profoundly and still recognize one another's dignity.

I believe we can hold people accountable without taking pleasure in their suffering..

..and I believe that caring for our own wellbeing also means paying attention to what we allow to take root within us.

Because holistic wellbeing, to me, has never been only about massage, relaxation, meditation, or finding ways to feel better.

It is about how we live. What our next actions are going to be.

How we relate to ourselves.

How we meet our own difficult emotions.

How we treat others when we are hurting.

And whether the peace we seek within ourselves can also be reflected in the way we move through the world.

There is a reason I believe in creating spaces where people can feel safe enough to put down what they carry, even if only for a little while.

Because when we feel constantly threatened, overwhelmed, or unheard, it can become harder to respond with patience and understanding.

And while no amount of relaxation can solve every injustice in the world, perhaps learning to recognize and care for our own inner state can help us avoid adding unnecessary suffering to it.

I don't want to become another voice shouting into the noise.

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.

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I don't want my pain about the world to become the very thing that hurts me so deeply to witness.

I want to remain capable of compassion without losing discernment.

To recognize wrongdoing without surrendering to hatred.

To speak for justice without forgetting mercy.

To stand firmly for what I believe is right, while remembering that the person standing opposite me is just as human as I am.

And I want to remember that looking within ourselves first does not mean turning our backs on the world.

Sometimes, it is precisely what allows us to meet the world with greater clarity, courage, and compassion.

Because no political victory, no ideology, no vision of a better future will mean very much to me if, in pursuing it, we forget how to treat one another as human beings.

Perhaps the most important question is not simply what kind of world we are trying to create.

It is who we are becoming while trying to create it.

And today, my heart keeps returning to one simple prayer.

God, when the world grows louder, help me listen more deeply.

When anger rises, help me respond with wisdom rather than react from hurt.

When I encounter hatred, help me remember the human being beneath it.

And when I am tempted to judge, gently remind me to look within myself first.

May I never become so certain of my own righteousness that I forget how to love.

May I have the courage to stand for what is right, and the humility to remember that I, too, am human. Still learning. Still growing. Still capable of getting things wrong.

Help me recognize when I need to step away from the noise, not out of indifference, but to care for what is happening within me, so that I may return with a clearer mind and a kinder heart.

And at the end of each day, may I be able to rest knowing that, however imperfectly, I have tried to leave a little more peace in this world than I found when I woke.

Because perhaps one of the bravest things we can do in a divided world is refuse to let division take away our humanity.

And perhaps one of the most meaningful ways we can care for the world is to begin by tending to what we carry within ourselves.

There is a thought I hold especially close to my heart, expressed by the great Hungarian poet, János Arany.,

His words carry a deeply personal meaning for me, not only because of their wisdom, but because I had the privilege of beginning my own earthly journey in the very same town where he was born: Nagyszalonta, known today as Salonta.

Two lives separated by generations, yet connected by a place, a language, and words that continue to speak to something timeless within the human heart.

And perhaps this is why, whenever I witness the world becoming divided, whenever I struggle to understand how easily we can forget our compassion for one another, I hear his words.

Not as a demand for perfection, but as a reminder of what is worth striving for, every single day.

“Legnagyobb cél pedig, itt, e földi létben,
Ember lenni mindég, minden körülményben.”
“The greatest goal here, in this earthly existence, is to remain human, always, under all circumstances.”- János Arany

…and perhaps, after everything I have been trying to put into words today, this is what my heart has wanted to say all along.

Whatever happens around us, whatever we believe, whatever we are called to face, may we never forget how to remain human

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