Ultimately, realignment requires institutions to catch up with conscience. Small acts can be codified: transparent credit-sharing in syllabi and project charters; community funds for mutual aid; restorative processes that center repair over spectacle. Healthcare offers a model in Schwartz Rounds (since the 1990s), where caregivers reflect on the emotional dimensions of care, normalizing compassion as professional practice. As norms harden into policy, they, in turn, protect future acts of kindness—creating a feedback loop from spark to structure. In this way, the world does not flip overnight; it clicks, steadily, into decency. [...]
