On my office wall, I have a sign from Newtown, Connecticut that I got after my work helping the community respond to its school massacre, which reads: “Our collective strength and resilience will be an example to the rest of the world.”

I am recalling these signs now as panic and fear grips the nation over the coronavirus.

This week’s political events unfolding in the nation’s capital are just one more indication of why local communities must lead the way in placing our shared lives on a more hopeful, inclusive path.

We can do better. We must.

While tired old debates rage over politics and policy in the wake of this new violence, our social norms rot away. So many people feel utterly bewildered and enraged about the direction of our country. Many of us also feel powerless. But we are not. It is a dire mistake to wait for our politicians to reset our social norms. They are waiting for us.

I’m delighted to launch my new book, Stepping Forward: A Positive Practical Path to Transform Our Communities and Our Lives. You can pre-order it here.

I grew up in a small town in upstate New York where lots of people owned guns for hunting. Now, each summer, alone with my two dogs, I go for two weeks to a cabin in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains; this is even more rural and remote upstate New York, where even more people own guns and hunt. Hunting is an act of joy for many people. But when guns become a political weapon, nothing good comes of it.

Dear Governor: Having to cancel the first stop of your “racial reconciliation tour” at Virginia Union University is a sign of just how difficult your road ahead is. What will you do from here? You face a fundamental choice. Is your reconciliation tour about your own political survival, or can you become an instrument of society?

Watching the unfolding events in Virginia this past week has only deepened my personal commitment and drive to address two key topics: identity and sorrow. These will be a new focus of our Studio on Community moving forward.

On Saturday, I didn’t move an inch from my couch from the morning until midnight as I watched in horror the unfolding scenes from Pittsburgh. As a practicing Jew, I feel a bottomless sorrow; as a devoted American, I feel emboldened. As a person who cares deeply about the health of our nation, I feel we must act.