You Have Choices. Choose Humanity.

The takeover is happening in real-time. A corporate-driven power grab is steamrolling over the foundation of public service.

Federal employees—people who have dedicated their careers to serving the public good—are receiving micromanaging emails demanding past-week accomplishments and quantifiable impact. As if human contribution can be reduced to a spreadsheet entry. Mass firings—are being executed without regard for the individuals whose livelihoods are being upended.

People are scared. Families are scared. Agencies are scrambling to provide clarity, hosting town halls and webinars in an attempt to offer guidance. But what’s unfolding on these screens is surreal. Officials, reading from scripts with the stiffness of a hostage video, stare straight ahead, trying to look professional, trying to follow protocol. Their humanity—our shared humanity—seems to have been surgically removed in favor of corporate-speak and damage control.

Fearful people are executing orders, trading their humanity for empathy-lacking robot behavior.

Let me say what needs to be said.

Yes, you are fearful. I am fearful. We all feel the weight of this moment pressing down. But fear does not absolve us from choice.

To the employees caught in this nightmare: You have committed your life, your energy, your creativity, your expertise, your service to this work. Your contributions have mattered. They matter now. What is happening is unjust. It is wrong. And it should not be happening.

But in this moment, you still have a choice.

You can choose to reject the dehumanization that is being imposed upon you. You can choose to recognize the worth of your work, even if the authoritarian mouthpieces fail to acknowledge it. You can choose to stand with your colleagues, your families, your communities, and affirm what is real: that public service is not a commodity to be bought, sold, or discarded at will. It is the backbone of a functioning society.

And to those hosting these town halls, delivering these scripts—step up. Break the script. Acknowledge the reality. Let your people see that you recognize what’s happening for what it is. That you see them. That you know this is wrong. That you stand with them, not as figures of authority but as human beings navigating an unjust upheaval together.

Buffy Sainte-Marie sang it clearly in Universal Soldier:

He's the Universal Soldier
and he really is to blame.
His orders come from far away no more.
They come from here and there and you and me,
and brothers, can't you see
this is not the way to put an end to war.

This system, this machine, cannot function without people willing to carry out its orders. Every individual who complies, who follows protocol without question, sustains it. No mass firing happens without people choosing, one by one, to enact it. No order is enforced without a person deciding to enforce it.

I know it isn’t always simple. Some will say, *I have no choice; if I don’t do it, someone else will.* Others may believe that following orders will buy them a little more time, a little more security. But if you must comply, at the very least, do it with humanity. If you have tears, let them fall. If you have kindness, extend it. If you have empathy, hold onto it. Offer a hand to hold. Sit in silence and solidarity with those around you. Do not let them reduce you to a machine. You are not AI. You are you.

There is a line in the sand. You must choose. There is no neutral ground here.

Leadership is not about titles or hierarchy. It is about how we show up in moments of challenge. Every choice you make is an act of leadership. Whether you are responding to orders, facilitating discussions, or simply standing in solidarity, you have the power to shape what happens next.

As a leader, choose to stand up, stand in solidarity with humane ways of being. Do not become a tool for destruction of our safety and well-being.

If you're struggling with how to navigate fear and complexity, let’s talk. Leadership isn’t about compliance—it’s about presence, integrity, and action. You don’t have to do it alone. There is a path forward.

It’s complicated. It’s messy. And that is life—our beautiful, sentient, feeling, human life.

Choose humanity.