ABSTRACT
For those experiencing systemic violence, the human experience must have always felt lived in repressive times. At the beginning of the pandemic, for instance, the Chinese government delivered boxes of much needed medical supplies to Italy, the first Western country to declare a total lockdown as the pandemic raged out of control and threatened to overwhelm its public health system. It would have been an unlikely gesture in the pre-pandemic tense politics of East versus West. The West tends to Orientalize the East when searching for platitudes declaring ancient wisdom. China turned this cliche on its head and used one of Italy's own ancient philosophers as it made an offering of solidarity and human unity. Gestures like this shed a bright light on our ability and potential to cherish our common humanity while acknowledging our cultural and tribal inclinations and differences.
