Humanity is in jeopardy. International conflicts, economic upheavals, wars, diseases, racism, and xenophobia are inflicting untold harm on ordinary people, the poor, and minorities. How will communication scholars respond? In this conversation, we argue that, more than ever before, communication scholars ought to engage these fateful issues in their research. Furthermore, our critical analysis will be enriched and strengthened, not softened, by infusing it with an ethos of empathy, care, love, and hope. We encourage emerging scholars, especially our graduate students, to believe in their own lived experience as a criterion of knowledge as established theories and concepts begin to lose their relevance in an unsettled world.