Me, I’m not religious or patriotic or particularly talented with any marketable skill. What gives me hope is realizing how life has progressed from centuries past. I’m not a french peasant living in the 1300’s working 10 hours a day 6 days a week. I’m not living on the windswept plains of Kansas in 1860 with a sod hut and no TV, neighbors, internet or radio. I have my problems in life but I try to stay grateful. I’m also grateful that people have advanced morally as well as technologically. Slavery and Genocide used to be taken for granted, now, they are the fundamental opposite of humanitarian and democratic values.
Most days pretty much nothing. But on those rare days when I see hope for us as a species its exchanging thoughts like we do here - usually honest, open, and with at least a hint of wishing to understand even when we disagree.
Good thread idea. For me what gives me hope is a few things.
The constant march forward on science, medicine, technology, human rights, civil rights, political rights, etc we have seen for the last 300 years will continue. The trajectory is clear and. In a few decades the world will be healthier, more educated, freer and more guarded from pain than we are now. A few decades after that even more so. The trend line is clear.
Also most people are mostly decent much of the time. So we will use those advances to make life better. Advances in biology will be used to reduce disease and suffering far more than they will be used to invent new forms of torture.
Listening to my daughter sing. Really. I attended a concert of hers yesterday in which 350 high school students from across the US and Israel sang together beautifully. They worked as separate choirs all year and came together for a four day retreat culminating in the festival on Sunday. Two and half hours of teenage voices in beautiful harmony, working together, getting along and being happy
It gives me hope that we’re passing the world to people like that.
And I know there are kids like that in every area- sports, community service, art etc. There are so many, many terrific kids out there.
So many positive things that I dreamed about when I was a child have come true…
As mentioned in this thread, I dreamed about having a magic book that would be any book I wanted it to be, about owning T.V. shows so I could watch them whenever I wanted, and about marriage equality.
I also imagined an end to the sectarian violence in Ireland, the end of apartheid, and the reunification of Germany (we won’t mention peace in the Middle East).
I was hopeful that I would live to see a woman, a Jewish person or an African-American become president of the U.S.
Other things that I didn’t necessarily imagine, but that got so much better since I was a child: amazing advances in the treatment of diseases, including childhood leukemia and breast cancer. In my lifetime, smallpox was eliminated. AIDS emerged, and then was rendered significantly less deadly (at least in many countries) by an incredible funding and research effort.
The collapse of the Soviet Union. Improvements in air and water quality in many places. A 50% reduction in drunk driving deaths in the U.S. The huge worldwide drop in sudden infant death syndrome related to new information about sleep positions.
For me, the positive changes that I have seen in my lifetime far outweigh the negative changes. I’m definitely still an optimist and a believer that people are basically good, and that if we can identify problems and work together to solve them, we can continue to improve the world.
I keep a handwritten letter in an envelope pinned to my bulletin board. The handwriting is barely legible and clearly written by someone who is old and whose motor skills are failing. You can tell that putting pen to paper was a great effort for the elderly writer.
What’s the letter about? It’s a thank you note from someone who won one of my pieces at an art show. Simple. Heartfelt. Written with great effort. This letter reminds me that there are still thoughtful and kindhearted people willing to go out of their way in this world. Knowing that there are people like her gives me hope.
My eldest tested in the 99th percentile for reading and 98th for math. She’s twelve and she’s great company. She’s so moral she’s a committed vegetarian. She gets home from school each day and I feel like the there’s a rainbow in my house. I spent a full hour gigging with her this afternoon.
Now if only could get her to stop losing library books . . .
