Patterns of Progress: The Push and Pull of Human Dignity

The Revolution Ain’t Just Rainbow-Colored

Look, I didn’t ask to be the guy who breaks this down for you, but someone’s gotta say it. All these trending topics—they ain’t just random internet noise. It’s like when Professor Lambeau would put those patterns on the blackboard thinking nobody could solve ‘em, but the pattern was obvious to me because I wasn’t blinded by all the academic bullshit.

You got Pride Month trending in Vancouver, right? Riot Games throwing up some digital flags in VALORANT, making murals in Toronto. Everyone patting themselves on the back. But see, this ain’t just about video game cosmetics or corporate rainbow washing. This is the slow, grinding wheel of progress that started rolling at Stonewall in ‘69. People fought and bled for that rainbow flag to mean something—“hope, diversity, and the ongoing fight for equality and visibility.”

That’s the pattern, see? People demanding dignity. People saying, “I exist, and that existence isn’t up for debate.” And yeah, we’ve come a long way from cops raiding gay bars to corporations selling Pride merch, but don’t mistake visibility for victory. The same pattern keeps repeating: push for recognition, face resistance, push harder, gain ground, repeat.

When Loss Cuts Through the Noise

Then you got the Stegall family trending because they lost their kid. Twenty years old. Just like that. And the whole community’s mourning him.

You know what gets me about this? In the middle of all the political noise and rainbow capitalism, real human suffering breaks through. Chase Stegall didn’t get to live out his potential. Didn’t get to find out who he could become. And that shit’s universal. Doesn’t matter if you’re the son of a CFL legend or some kid from Southie—grief cuts through everything.

I’ve watched guys I grew up with get buried before they hit 25. And every time, the neighborhood comes together like the Blue Bombers and DePaul are doing now. Because when death shows up, all the other divisions we create seem pretty fucking meaningless.

That’s another pattern: in the face of loss, we remember our shared humanity. Too bad we need tragedy to remind us.

The Chess Game Nobody Wins

And then there’s Ukraine. Man, you want to talk about patterns? War is the oldest one in the book. One side hits, the other hits back harder. Ukraine smuggles 117 drones into Russia, takes out 40 aircraft, damages a third of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers. Pretty clever move on the chessboard.

But here’s the thing about chess—it ain’t checkers. Putin’s embarrassed now. Reports say Russian forces are already “systematically using drones to target civilians.” That means kids, hospitals, old folks—people just trying to survive. Because that’s another pattern: when powerful men feel humiliated, innocent people pay the price.

This ain’t some geopolitical abstraction. It’s human beings with their flesh torn open because some leaders couldn’t figure out how to solve their problems without violence. And don’t think this pattern stays contained in Eastern Europe. The ripples spread outward—refugees, economic impacts, escalation that could pull in more countries.

The Thread That Binds

So what’s the common thread here? It’s about human dignity, man. Pride Month is about dignity denied for centuries. The mourning of Chase Stegall is about honoring the dignity of a life cut short. And Ukraine? It’s about the fundamental dignity of self-determination, of not having bombs dropped on you because someone else decided your country shouldn’t exist as you know it.

And see, that’s what I think is coming down the pike. More conflicts—some violent, some cultural—all centered around this basic question: Who gets to live with dignity? Who gets to be seen as fully human?

Vancouver might seem far from Ukraine, and a Pride parade might seem disconnected from a family’s grief. But the pattern is there if you’re willing to see it. People fighting to be recognized. People coming together in loss. People demanding the right to determine their own futures.

The political and cultural battles of the next decade won’t be abstract policy debates—they’ll be visceral fights about whose humanity gets acknowledged. The winners will be whoever can expand that circle of dignity without falling into the trap of dehumanizing their opponents.

But I’ll tell you one thing—it won’t be solved by people who think they’re too smart to get involved. It’ll be solved by people who are willing to look at the patterns, recognize their own place in them, and do the hard work of creating new ones.

How do you like them apples?