For the last few months, the novel coronavirus pandemic has seemed at times like a cosmic black hole: It has relentlessly consumed everyone’s attention—especially in the media. Turn on the television or radio, scan headlines on the web, or swipe through the news on your phone, and COVID-19 often dominates the headlines and discussion. However, behind the ominous, ever-present cloak of the virus, the world is suffering from numerous other calamities.

As the world watches China and Hong Kong struggle over differing definitions of freedom, and many nations express individual concern, why have four nations recently chosen to issue a joint statement disapproving of how events are unfolding in southeast Asia?

Millions of people around the globe have been outraged by the viral video of a policeman kneeling on the neck of a defenseless George Floyd. This action was, by all appearances, an excessive use of force on the part of the officer. Since then, protests have broken out across the United States and even in Europe.

My alarm goes off again—just another weekday. As I try to open my eyes, they feel puffy, and I remember: I cried myself to sleep last night. All of the night’s thoughts and feelings come right back, leaving me a crying mess at 6 o’clock in the morning. Not how I want to start my day.