Grace under Pressure

Under strain, rehearsed social manners give way to instinctual reactions that often reveal one’s true character. Not only exceptional circumstances but even daily routine can push someone beyond the threshold. Keeping those reactions at bay and displaying grace under pressure demonstrates an individual’s poise, dignity, elegance, and sang-froid. Some individuals need it for their jobs, and even make a career out of it. Think of surgeons, astronauts, or diplomats: their ability to exhibit grace under intense pressure can be a matter of life or death. And yet, everybody should learn the ropes, both individually and collectively. History demands as much.

These are some of the questions we will ask: What is grace in a social context? What does it then mean to display grace collectively? Should we be graceful as democracy is threatened and divisions across political party lines have intensified? Are their instances in which more knee-jerk, vehement reactions are preferable? Is there a connection between this concept and soft power? And non-violence? When does grace turn into acquiescence? Should we, as a society, react gracefully to the pressure of reckoning with the climate catastrophe and ecological devastation we have wrought upon ourselves and our planet?

The complexity and density of our interconnectedness is operating at a planetary scale with planetary consequences. For the first time, we are inextricably linked by each of our individual actions which cascade and multiply through a network of compounding consequences. Under this unparalleled contemporary condition, what is grace under pressure?

This Salon took place on February 27, 2024