Key points

Justifying small harms teaches us to disconnect from our instinct to care.

Questioning "ends justify the means thinking" isn’t weakness; it’s how we protect our humanity.

Kindness and grace are part of balance, not distractions from it.

This year in D.C., when so much has felt existential and out of our control, a clear, actionable way to care for the planet has emerged: kill spotted lanternflies.

The ecological case against them is real: They are invasive, destructive, and bad for trees.

But I still can’t bring myself to do it.

Each time I see one, with its flickering polka-dotted wings and its clumsy jumps, I hesitate. I know what I’m supposed to do. I tell myself it’s “for the greater good,” but I feel a tightening in my chest. It’s a sense that killing this tiny bein

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