My last summer in college, back in the 1980s during a then-unseasonable week of daily temperatures near 100°, I made an observation that has only increased over the years in relevance: no obligation constrains this planet to provide us with a habitable home. This impression has grown stronger in response to recent events, from the polo-shirt-wearing Nazis marching in Charlottesville to the California wildfires taking lives, destroying homes, and blotting the sun. If we are so fortunate as to be merely threatened—rather than crushed—by the current state of affairs--we must keep from turning away from these realities. Rather than break down, we must break upward, nurturing our capacity for compassion by continuing to pursue celebration and joy.