The Weight We Carry | Power, Guilt, And Being Human #436

The Weight We Carry | Power, Guilt, And Being Human #436

A stadium roars, ads chase our eyeballs, and a coach thanks God under the brightest lights. From that noisy stage, we trace a path to something quieter and heavier: the mental load of competition, the confusion of AI-fueled job hunts, and the courage it takes to tell the truth when silence is safer. We open up about running a lean nonprofit that’s shipped more than 435 episodes without a big staff, and why consistency and candor can still cut through a crowded feed.

The journey moves from Super Bowl hype to everyday reality: ghost postings that never hire, five-round interviews that end with “we went internal,” and the way rejection can chip at self-worth. We talk openly about how to protect your energy, make peace with slower timelines, and find momentum through community rather than burnout. Along the way, a rare halftime moment—public gratitude for faith—opens a door to older wisdom. Mother Angelica’s reflections on anger and forgiveness meet a timeless story about betrayal and the bystander effect, reminding us that courage often looks unfashionable in the moment and essential in hindsight.

Then comes the hardest turn: a meditation on Pontius Pilate, power, and the long arc of suicide. The point is not to settle every historical detail but to confront a stubborn truth—status, wealth, and control do not immunize a person from despair. Stigma is not new, and the need for compassion is not optional. If there’s a thread that ties all of this together—sports, ads, careers, faith, history—it’s the idea that attention may be the currency of our time, but presence is the medicine. We keep showing up, we keep speaking plainly, and we keep choosing one another over the noise.

If this conversation helped you breathe a little deeper, share it with someone who needs it today. Follow, subscribe, and leave a review so more people can find a voice that meets them where they are.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Setting The Mission Straight

2:47 Super Bowl: Games, Ads, Halftime

4:38 Competition Across Media And Jobs

9:40 Lean Team, Big Output

12:38 Word Of Mouth And Support

15:28 AI, Job Search, And Ghost Postings

22:00 Faith Shoutouts On The Big Stage

24:00 Mother Angelica On Anger And Forgiveness

28:10 Bystander Effect And Betrayal

32:50 Pilate, Power, And Suicide

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Transcript

Setting The Mission Straight

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes 0:01

Hi everyone, Justin here with Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us today on this episode. I'll shift this camera a little bit around. Okay. Really appreciate you being with us. We're over 435 episodes total in our catalog. We couldn't do it without you, your demand, um, the interest in our in our show. Uh we could have packed it up a long time ago, as I've mentioned many times before. Uh, but we haven't, and we aren't. And we're gonna continue moving on and we're gonna continue sharing, we're gonna continue talking about uh easy topics, we're gonna continue talking about tough topics, and it really comes um because that's that's the way life is, and uh we would be doing disservice to everybody if if we would just fluff everything up and make everything look to be perfect, because we know nothing's perfect, and uh so we would again be doing a a big disservice if if we just covered and talked about easy things that that happen uh to to us. Uh we like talking about easy things that happen to us, uh, but sometimes there are things that aren't quite as uh on the happy scale, uh, more on the hard to hard to talk about, very very tough topics, very deep uh topics to uh and events to to talk about. So thank you for joining us. Uh we're filming this today after the uh the the Super Bowl. Uh I didn't watch any of it. Um it appears that the Seattle Seahawks uh they they did a number on the New England Patriots. Uh and so that's one aspect out of three. Uh the second aspect is the commercials. So some people tune in just for the commercials. Uh, the most eyeballs, the most people for any one event usually is the American football super bowl. Uh, and so organizations and brands tend to do a lot of uh their advertising and spending a lot of their budget for uh for commercials. Uh so that's the second part. And the third part is the uh the the different halftime shows. So you have you know the NFL sponsored, you know, checking off all these boxes uh with Bad Bunny doing his performance. Um, and then you have the uh the turning point USA uh Erica Kirk husband Charlie uh fortunately was assassinated last year, and there's just been a big rally around her, the movement, and and so there was a competition basically. Uh there were two choices, uh, and there were many millions uh from what early uh early numbers that are coming in, which is which is really incredible, um, because you don't really know until you do something. Uh and and and sometimes that's that's when the measure comes in of how do we do? You know, we have expectations, but how did we do? So we'll we'll hear more about that uh going into the into the future. But that really just sums up life for real, right? So think of you know the job market, think of anything, think of our podcast and TV show. There are so many shows, so many podcasts out there. Um, and so people have tons of choices, so the competition is really, really high. So when we look at that, uh from what we're seeing with our numbers and um and others, uh, we're we're seeing that we are third behind uh the Dan Bongino show after after his uh strong year of service with uh deputy director of the FBI, the Dan Bongino show, uh, as well as the Joe Rogan experience. And you have the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast, which is really unheard of, um, as small of an organization as we are, uh it's just it's incredible. Uh we uh we take what we do seriously, and that's why we talk about all topics, because we're number one, we're not a a one-and-done organization. So if we were just looking to get one topic across and just talk about that, that's that's okay. You know, there's there's sports casters and people to report on uh different sporting teams, and you know, they make a make a living on that, and and that's okay. Um but we talk about everything. Uh so we talk about pop culture, uh, we we talk about obviously mental health, uh, which is you know the uh uh the the big reason, the big foundation of why we're even uh on a show, why we have a show, uh because of mental health, because we talk about it, talk about my mental health, we'll talk about my mental illnesses. Uh, not a lot of people want to talk about theirs. Some do, some don't, but not not a whole lot do when we look at the numbers. Uh and then when we look at the numbers, you know, you from somebody who starts a podcast, you know, one episode to a hundred episodes, there's a certain amount of uh, I guess a certain amount of shows. And then when you get to 200, you get even less. When you get to 300, you get even less, 400 less. Or sitting, you know, we we touch 435 episodes, and that's really remarkable for the operation. We have uh the lean, the lean staff we have, which means we don't have a lot of people. What you basically have is myself who does the editing, does the title, does the description, hashtags, all that across all platforms. Whether you're watching, whether you're listening, uh, that's the remarkable part. These other shows we're talking about, they have staff, they have staffs. You know, a staff member does one thing, then another one does another. Uh, we don't have that. Uh, and we're a nonprofit also. So that uh you know that that gets thrown in the in the mix, which we're asking if if if you'd be able to uh reach out to 25 people uh in your contacts in your phone and share the voices for voices TV show and podcast with them, let them know about us, share, give us a big thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, all that. Those are free things to do. Reaching out again to people on your phone, uh or on other social media uh outlets and let them know about the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. We'd greatly appreciate that. Uh, that's how we're getting uh the attraction we're getting is really word of mouth. Uh, and that's where that groundswell is really coming from, is uh word of mouth. So that's what I mean when I say it's because of you that we're where we're at. Why we even have a show, what makes us want to continue on, which is a question that we uh entertain a lot, is you know, why why you do this? Why are you continuing, among others? And so that's that kind of gets us into uh into into the show a little bit deeper. So you know, we have competition. So we have competition and right, so the Super Bowl, there's that competition between the games, competition between the advertisers, we have competition between you know podcast shows, TV shows. Uh we have uh competition uh between people uh who are in the job market, uh which I am. So if you uh if you know anybody, let me know. I'd love to reach out, have a conversation, and see if uh it might be good fit. And so there's that competition as well that come comes into play. And so that's kind of a that's a lot what we just talked about. I mean, we're talking about, yeah, just there's so much competition, right? It is uh it's it's very interesting to have that. Um and especially with the world of AI being what it is and where it's going, you know, the competition just really continues to grow. Because if we're just talking about searching for jobs, AI helps exponentially apply to more jobs, which can lead to overwhelming the organizations and the companies that have the jobs posted. There's also these what they call ghost jobs, which the jobs are posted on the website, but then when it all comes down to it, they don't have company doesn't hire for those. Not all of them, as I just mentioned. That's like you said, the ghost jobs, like somebody gets ghosted, where they're talking to somebody, and then they just dis one of one of the people just disappears, doesn't talk, doesn't respond. It's like a ghost, right? Same thing with jobs, they're posted, may go through maybe an interview process, and then find out oh, this job's actually, you know, we went went through the budget and uh we're just not able to hire for this this position at this time. I've been there, done that. It's uh I'm talking on the interview side, like on you know, applying, and so I've had that happen so so many times. It's so frustrating uh when that that happens, and it's also frustrating when you go through you know three, four, sometimes five interviews just to find out that oh, we're just gonna hire from inside. Uh and so I'm being very transparent with what's going on in the world. You know, companies can get upset, they can get mad, they can get furious that you know I'm talking about jobs in this manner, but it's the truth. So again, I'd rather be on the side of the truth than to try to you know put a fast one by people. Like we're not stupid, like we're not dumb. Uh we're human beings and we understand what's going on. Uh so there's that, huh? You know, and then we have you know, the the talk about the Super Bowl. Um, and from what I saw, the uh highlights, Seattle really uh did a number on uh the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are the American football Super Bowl champions. Uh, and one of the things that uh head coach of the Seattle Seahawks said when he was presented with the trophy that he wanted to thank God, that God put him in that position to coach that team to do what he did. And I think it's very noble for somebody with millions and millions across the world tuning in uh to to share that and say that because on one side it's popular, and on one the other side it's not, and so it's it took a lot of a lot of uh being brave to talk about that uh in front of so many people. And then that really takes us back in time, and I know we haven't talked about talked about this topic, and I was uh just a little bit ago. So there is Mother Angelica. So she grew up in a town close to where I grew up, and she made EWTN, the TV network, and all that, uh made it what it is today. And her show from 1994, which I was 13 years old when the show came out, uh just shows how relevant her show is today in the year 2026, uh, when a show what 20 years ago, 22 years ago, uh it is shown it's still still relevant. And so I was tune so I was tuning in to the show, flipping the channels, and it's amazing how many channels, TV channels, they're streaming or not streaming. It's just amazing how many channels are out there that we don't tune into that we're like, uh I really don't want to watch this, I don't wanna I don't watch something different. Um and I saw I was in that mode of you know I I was flipping through channels and I wasn't finding anything, and and then I came across you know EWTN, uh which stands for Eternal Word uh Television Network EWTN and Mother Angelica founded it. It it being EWTN gets beamed out to hundreds of countries, uh and still today gets beamed out to hundreds of countries and she was talking about anger and how we need to at least try to you know forgive somebody even if they've done an act or actions that we would look at and go, no, that's probably not something, you know, how can we forgive somebody who does a particular action? And part of what she was speaking about was about how Jesus had the disciples and they still betrayed him when you know when uh I mean if you're thinking about sports like you know when the time really mattered, like like hey, I need I need I need help. I need can we get some can we get somebody to stand up for me? And he was betrayed and I'm just la I'm not laughing, it's not even funny. Uh the reason why I have this look on my face and and that is because I didn't know this next part. I didn't know this next part. So Pontius Pilate, for those that know about the Bible, know about that aspect is was the individual who you know the guards brought Jesus and said, Oh, he's he says he's the king of the Jews and uh and and all the people, you know, the crowd, we get this um bystander effect that we've talked about before where hardly anybody, if anybody, stood next to his side and said, No, don't do it. Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. And that includes the disciples, the people closest to him, the Last Supper people broke bread body and blood of Christ. In the moment that Jesus needed at most, needed that most help. I believe it was Judas that uh turned him away three times, or I can't think of the the the term. Like, do you know this? Do you know this Jesus? Do you know this Jesus? He said, I do not know what you're talking about, I do not know this man. And so the bystander effect, then you know, you get all the you get the crowds, and you know, it's people are like, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. You know, and different dignitaries are passages on and gets to Pontius Pilate, and Pontius Pilate says, Yo, why? What has this man done? And then people say, he says he's the king of the Jews. Do a miracle, do a miracle, do a miracle. They said, What is this? And Pontra says, What is does this man do? What did he do? And the crowd just keeps yelling, crucifying, crucifying, crucify him. Again, nobody came to his side. Nobody came to his aid. So we all know what happens next. He's crucified. And there are three, Jesus. And I believe one was maybe a robber and another murderer. Or don't quote me on exactly who the other two what sins, what they did that was enough for Pontius Pilate to say, yep, we need to crucify these these other two as well. So what's this have to do with anything? First of all, it's Jesus Christ. So it has a lot to do with everything in the world. Like my faith has been very shaky at times. It's hard to be a believer when sometimes things can look like they're not going your way or my way. Nothing's going right. Again, like big deal. Some of it went to the counter and some went onto the floor. Just pick it up. Clean it up. It's not a big deal. And so the person pilot was the one that basically signed a death warrant. As we would say, I guess, you know, like a governor. If we're in the United States of America signing a death warrant and not intervening, if any of the courts haven't been to go forward with the death penalty, if that's what somebody is convicted of and charged and convicted, and trial and all the appeals. So mental health-wise, this is all heavy. This is all a lot to think about. So bringing it back to Mother Angelica's show, which I didn't I didn't know. I didn't know this. But Mother Angelica said that Pontius Pilate died by suicide later in life. I don't know what year it was, I don't know how closely it was related to the day that he had Jesus crucified. I don't know. And so a lot of us, you know, think about suicide and taking our own lives. And people who have almost like this is the new age thing. Like that this is a progressive thing that it's only started maybe I don't I don't know how many years ago. But I didn't know it was a thing all the way back in Jesus' time and after he passed. So when we talk about subjects that have heavy weight on them. Again, I'm not gonna get into the we're not gonna get into like why he did it, how it happened, what year it was. We're not gonna get into that. Talking two thousand years ago, give or take, or more. I mean, that's mind blowing to me. Because here is a person who was in power who can see who by all accounts had everything a person would want power, control over people. And we would say, well, so what's what would he have to be so concerned about that he felt impelled compelled to take his life, his own life. So I'm bringing this more up just as a conversation, as thoughts, as comments. Again, I don't know the specifics. Maybe we'll have a show someday where we'll talk about it. I just learned about this watching the Mother Angelica show. You can say and think what you want about her, and you don't have to be a believer. Um, so we'll do what they say, and then I crucify Jesus with the other the other two as well at the same time. So again, if somebody has so much power, so much influence, why would why would they why would they feel compelled to take their own life? I don't know. I'm I'm not trying to answer that question. I mean the big thing for me, the big takeaway is that he did it. We don't know what was eaten at his the core of his inside, of what happened, why what led to that moment or moments that maybe spiraled out of control. It's just a heavy, heavy topic. So we think you know, we think of kings and queens and princesses and princes, and you know, we think about people uh again, they they by all intents and purposes have everything they need, everything they want. And then we look at well, I want to I want to buy a Ferrari, I want to buy a mansion at one location or another. I want to have a condo, I want to buy a private jet, I want to buy a yacht, I want to do all these things and you know have control and power over people. But yeah, you can't take it with you. I've talked about this at length. You cannot take it with you. So it's a real heavy topic, you know, to talk about here at the beginning of the week, here in 2026. I was just I was just absolutely floored when I heard that Pilate took his own life. Again, we talk about stigma and things like we we don't know what's going on in somebody else's life. They may have, again, by all intents and purposes, have everything that a person would need and want. But maybe not. Maybe there was still some searching going on. Maybe there was I don't know, maybe there was some guilt. Maybe he found out some truths that he was a part of that he wasn't fully aware of at the given time. I don't know. I'm not gonna speculate. And so we talk about a lot, a lot of different topics on our shows. And this one, it's you know, we go from a little bit lighthearted, I guess, you know, competition-wise, and then we get into this, where we're not talking about on this show at least, this particular episode, somebody taking their own life, talking about hundreds of years ago, thousand, a couple thousand years ago. So this whole stigma deal isn't something that just started yesterday or 20 years ago or 30 years ago. So it gives us a lot of a lot of food for thought. So thank you for joining us on this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I'm your host, Justin Allen Hayes. If you're able to, if you can donate, you can do that 247 365 or 366 if it's a leap year at loveloices.org. Lovevoices.org, lovevoices.org, and spelled out l-o-v-e, v-o-i, c e-s.org. We thank you for joining us on this and our over 435 episodes of the the voices for voices TV show and podcast. Let's celebrate the voices of everybody. Let's be a voice for ourselves and somebody else in need, and we will see you on our next show. Thank you so much, and let them know. Let your friends, family, colleagues, teammates, uh, your choirmates, uh, let them know about voices for voices. We have big goals. We've reached over a hundred countries and provinces and territories and over a thousand cities. Now our goal is to reach 3,000 cities in 300 countries, and our big overarching goal is to help and reach at least three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. And it's only going to be with you through your help. So, thank you so much. We love you. Thank you for the support for sending good vibes your way, whether you're a believer or not, and have a great day. We'll see you later.