Our Last Innocent Moment

If there can possibly be anything good to come out of the horrors of the last three years, it is this: some of us, at least, have been shaken awake. We now know that we are under attack. We are under attack not so much for the particular things we say or do but simply for wanting to be free, for wanting to be able to think through our lives, and for wanting our lives to be the products of our own choices.

Whatever happened over the last few years, we have been fundamentally changed by it. There's no reclaiming the innocence we lost. Life is more serious now. Our obligations are more weighty, or just more apparent. There are certain truths we came to see that can never be unseen. And everything is so much more complicated than we thought.

This is a dark time for humanity. But darkness always creates the greatest opportunities for growth and self-awareness, and for us to intentionally remake ourselves for the better. The moment is upon us. We can't reclaim the innocence we lost in 2020, but we can use our experiences to remake a more innocent world for ourselves and for our children. We can, I dare say, create something even greater.

Whatever you've been through over the last four years, whatever you left unsaid and undone, whatever you've lost, and however it changed you, this book is for you.

Dr. Julie Ponesse is Chief of Biomedical Ethics for The Wellness Company, a 2023 Brownstone Institute Fellow, and the author of My Choice (2021). She has a PhD in Philosophy (Western, 2008) with areas of specialization in ethics and ancient philosophy. Dr. Ponesse has published in the areas of ancient philosophy, ethical theory, and applied ethics, and has taught at universities in Canada and the US for 20 years.

In the fall of 2021, she saw her academic career of 20 years fall apart after she refused to comply with a Canadian university's COVID vaccine mandate In response, Dr. Ponesse recorded a special video directed to her first-year ethics students. That video went viral.