

For minutes, “No!” and “Yes!” have ping-ponged between the three car seats, and I’d long forgotten what sparked the fight, until I called back from the driver’s seat, “At least you’re smart enough to know these arguments are pointless!” A brief silence, then: “…Yes!” As adults, aren’t we just as trapped by scandals and online outrage, clicking into fights over friends’ politics or a driver’s missing turn signal? Whether it’s family squabbles or headline-grabbing protests, the storm may roar, but it changes nothing. Sometimes we need to lift our heads out of the fray and ask: does anyone else really hear the thunder?