I try to be optimistic. I try to assume that things will be turn out okay. I even tried to believe that when Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. I knew there would be bad things that would happen, but I felt that we as a society would survive it. But every day I am losing hope. Every day the news tells me of more cruelty, more fearmongering, more debasement, more prejudice, more sexism, more erosion of civil liberties, more dismissal of scientific discipline, more ugliness, and more hate. Although Trump is a constant source of these things, he is not alone, and that’s what really scares me.
Hate and greed are winning. They win votes in congress and in state and local politics too. They win in internet comment sections. They win in racist vandalism. They win in homophobic attacks. They win in the bodies of rape victims. They win in bullets blowing apart too many black lives. They will continue to win as the people die without adequate health care and as our natural resources continue to be depleted and polluted. I’m having a hard time believing that things will ever be okay.
Hate begets hate. Every day I fight the urge to hate in return, but it would be so easy.
I don’t know if I can make it to the next election.
My only hope is that kindness and compassion are not as rare as they seem. That their stories are just being drowned out by loud culture of spite and selfishness. I have to believe that good is still out there. I have to believe that.
Help me believe this. Make so much good that it drowns out the bad in person, online, and in the next election. Please.
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Kim Z. Dale 