Hope, Trust, and Truth: How the Pandemic Will Change Us

Will the disaster wrought by COVID-19 help a divided nation realize its common humanity? Or will the forces of division and hatred flourish alongside the virus and drive a polarized people further into their isolation and apathy? David Brooks, executive director of Weave and op-ed columnist for the New York Times, checks in with Jonathan Haidt, professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU's Stern School of Business, for a conversation about the forces competing for the future and how the pandemic could shift culture around everything from trust to truth. “It’s a hope sandwich,” Haidt says of his feelings about the future. “A giant slab of despair leading up to some hope…but then surrounded by another giant slab of despair.”

Our video series One Day at a Time captures casual conversations between friends and colleagues as they grapple with the little stuff, the bigger stuff, and the unimaginable during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pick up where Jonathan Haidt and David Brooks left off during their conversation by exploring ways you can help make the bonds that connect us stronger than ever.

• Read Jonathan Haidt's book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion for lessons about why Americans' response to the pandemic are correlated to their political leanings.

• Learn about the Aspen Institute's Weave: the Social Fabric Project (led by David Brooks), and their work repairing the distrust, division and exclusion rampant in our communities.

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