Nigeria, July 16 -- I have come to believe that every man has his season. There is a season to stand tall, and a season to kneel. That is why wisdom has always counseled moderation, humility, and the quiet art of reading the room. Empathy is not weakness. Emotional intelligence is not cowardice. Yet I also know how hard this is when interests clash, when ideas become battle lines, when politics turns survival into a reflex. In those moments, we are tempted to trade grace for grit, and grit for a blade.

Disagreement is inevitable. But when disagreement curdles into rivalry, we stop seeing people and start seeing enemies. Each side hunts for a fault, a slip, a headline to use as a punch. The goal is no longer persuasion. It is suppression...