Where empathy meets accountability — and where silence reveals the truth.
December brings World AIDS Day, a global moment of remembrance and resolve.
But it also brings a clearer picture of something deeper happening in the United States: a federal government steadily growing quieter, slower, and more indifferent to human suffering.
This Month in Compassion is The Humane Herald’s ongoing effort to track the places where compassion should be — and the places where it is being withdrawn.
December begins with a red ribbon.
But it does not end there.
I. World AIDS Day: A Reminder of What Compassion Should Look Like
On December 1, the world honors the millions lost to HIV/AIDS and recommits itself to science, equity, and dignity. The HIV epidemic has always revealed the fault lines of society — who we value, who we mourn, and who we allow to fall through the cracks.
Scientific progress has been incredible:
• ART saves lives PrEP prevents new infections U = U has transformed public understanding
• But progress without compassion is fragile.
• And progress without access is meaningless.
The federal government’s recent silence — on sexual health education, on HIV program funding, on healthcare equity — exposes a truth the communities living with HIV have long understood:
Silence is not passive. Silence is policy.
World AIDS Day becomes a lens, allowing us to see the broader pattern.
II. Hunger, Housing, and Hardship: The Compassion Gap Widens
This month also sees the aftershocks of a worsening national crisis:
• Food insecurity rising while SNAP funding remains unpredictable
• Homelessness reaching record levels across major cities
• Asylum seekers forced into survival-mode shelters with freezing temperatures
•Healthcare gaps expanding in rural and low-income communities
These crises did not appear suddenly in December — but the political silence surrounding them is increasingly deafening.
Congressional gridlock and partisan brinkmanship are replacing basic governance. Shutdown threats overshadow human need. Families in crisis see headlines — and little else.
Compassion doesn’t collapse overnight.
It erodes slowly, until people become statistics, then talking points, then nothing at all.
III. The Federal Retreat from Responsibility
We have watched a steady pattern throughout 2025:
1. Wild horses & burros
Federal agencies continue aggressive roundups while ignoring calls for transparency and humane alternatives.
2. Environmental disasters
Communities hit by climate-driven storms face delayed assistance and underfunded recovery efforts.
3. Disability rights
Critical protections under ADA enforcement remain under-resourced and understaffed.
4. Civil rights rollbacks
Federal silence following discriminatory legislation signals tacit acceptance.
5. Public health
From HIV resources to reproductive care, federal support has pivoted toward restriction, silence, or outright abandonment.
Each issue is unique.
But the pattern is not.
The government’s retreat from compassion is structural, not situational.
IV. Why Compassion Matters — and What “Humane” Governance Demands
The Humane Party’s framework teaches a consistent truth: Ethical governance is impossible without compassion.
Compassion is not sentiment.
It is policy.
A compassionate government:
• Funds what saves lives
• Responds to suffering with urgency
• Protects the vulnerable without political calculation
• Treats every person — human or nonhuman — as worthy of dignity
• Rejects indifference as a form of violence
When compassion disappears, injustice accelerates.
Suffering becomes normalized.
Communities fracture.
Truth becomes negotiable.
World AIDS Day reminds us what compassionate leadership once accomplished — and what it must accomplish again.
V. Where Compassion Still Lives: In Communities, Movements, and Action
If the federal government grows silent, communities have not.
Compassion thrives in:
• Local food banks and mutual aid networks
• LGBTQ+ centers offering free HIV testing
• Harm reduction organizations distributing naloxone
• Farm sanctuaries rescuing animals from systemic violence
• Climate activists protecting ecosystems
• Legal advocates defending civil rights
• Grassroots organizers helping families through the coldest months of the year
Compassion is not gone.
It has simply moved to where the people are.
VI. What December Asks of Us
December is a month of reflection, remembrance, and responsibility.
It asks us to look honestly at the federal silence surrounding suffering.
It asks us to listen to the communities most affected.
It asks us to refuse complacency in the face of injustice.
And above all, it asks us to recommit to compassion — loudly, deliberately, unapologetically.
Compassion is not a seasonal virtue.
It is a governing principle.
It is a moral obligation.
It is the foundation of any humane future.
The Humane Herald 