"because we are so stupid about each other"

30 March 2022: “Maybe we're just born to love and worry about the people we know, and to go on loving and worrying even when there are more important things we should be doing. And if that means the human species is going to die out, isn't it in a way a nice reason to die out, the nicest reason you can imagine? Because when we should have been reorganizing the distribution of the world's resources and transitioning collectively to a sustainable economic model, we were worrying about sex and friendship instead. Because we loved each other too much and found each other too interesting. And I love that about humanity, and in fact it's the very reason I root for us to survive - because we are so stupid about each other.” --Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You? 

I am about a quarter of the way through Rooney's novel and this passage above--which I heard just before pausing the audio book--seemed like a good framing for some of what I've been feeling lately. 

We had a terrific event on campus this evening, a poetry event with one of our fabulous adjuncts and our incoming provost. Our students showed up and were just wonderful. Just one of those moments when I find myself thinking, "People are so beautiful and wonderful, even if everything else is so messed up--and we are the ones messing it up."