“I am not an optimist, because I am not sure that everything ends well. Nor am I a pessimist, because I am not sure that everything ends badly. I just carry hope in my heart.” ~ Vaclav Havel
It’s been fed back to me (offline) that some of you here are finding my relentless negativity too much. I know - have been conscious of that too (i really have had a bit of a dip), and I am sorry.
So in an attempt to be more positive again: we had a lovely rainbow 🌈 here in #Eastbourne. I shared a picture on our street WhatsApp group and so many others shared theirs and we decided to see it as a sign of hope! #Community#Hope#MagicInTheCity
Lately I've noticed an increase in very pessmistic posts here. The topics are varied: COVID, AI, capitalism. Sometimes valid points are included. But the hopeless tone is the opposite of what we need.
We know there is hope, that activism can and does make a difference. Give people hope and they will act. 1/
Just read @pluralistic 's blog post about the difficulty that @2600 is having, both with its publication and producing the #HOPE con. This is tragic - I've never attended HOPE, but I've seen many videos and read so many recaps and articles inspired by it. Support 2600 today!
I'm not quite sure if it is #homesickness or #nostalgia, perhaps bordering on both. I had the German "Heimweh" in mind which connotes spatial as well temporal dimsions (or arther: doesn't distinguish much between both.) Anyway, to me #hope is indeed a form of homesickness / nostalgia, perhaps at times not directed to the past but to the future, but even then the same kind of feeling, and very often rooted in the past. Perhaps that's why I can understand your, let's put it that way: skepticism or incomprehension of hope. Obviously it's not optimisim or confidence, often not even the belief that the world is still "open" (in whatever sense). Rather, and here I may depart from you (but I don't know), it's a form of trust. Yes, perhaps that way: The trust that the world may indeed be far bigger, more complex, more intricate, more dynamic than what I sense to be my own life. That both (pretty please!) be not the same. Which intellectually we may grasp – we most often don't, regardless how much we may fool ourselves into *believing* otherwise – but usually don't sense, feel, or experience. I guess it's an advantage or benefit of getting old and tired that we grow a sense of that distinction, something the younger ones don't know and still don't have (they didn't fail yet). What you say about soldieres and murderers as the first victims I second.
While Israel's genocidal campaign terrorizes Palestinians & attempts to annihilate the Holy Land, it's difficult to sing, " O Little Town of Bethlehem" & "Joy to the World" on this very sad Christmas. Still, let's not lose hope, for that's what the oppressor wants. We know Palestine Will Be Free - From the River to the Sea! May 2024 be a kinder, gentler year for all. Peace on Earth. Let your Light shine.
@simsa03 I read "fatefully conscious" as "fatally conscious," a mental erratum I think I'll keep. Love is certainly not the opposite of death; if anything, they're twins. Conjoined twins. Each other's shadow, with no mirror between. Love, with its fraternal shadow is stronger than despair, more to the point, love is stronger than hope. "Love wins," as the slogan has it, but keep the quotes around it, to show its great big fangs. #love#death#despair#hope#lovewins
10/n #ClimateDiary I've been feeling so despondent about the state of the world and the prospects for #COP28 that I found myself unable to continue this series, or in fact write much at all here. @kathhayhoe: a few months back we had an exchange about #Hope, when I argued that I wasn't driven by hope as much as #DesperateDetermination. But I now recognise just how debilitating true hopelessness is, and that it is indeed a problem. I don't think I've ever had such a low. BUT:
We urge both peoples to stand for life and to oppose ideologies of hate, discrimination, and supremacy that have led us all to destruction and death. We call for an end to the occupation which perpetuates this conflict, and for a real political solution promoted and supported by the international community.
Let us show the world that even now, there is another way. Even in the heart of darkness, there is still #hope."
(4/x) Combatants for Peace לוחמים לשלום مقاتلون من أجل آلسلام