We Really Do Need Hope (in Today's World)

If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed.  But we
are more than logical.  We are human beings, and we
have faith, and we have hope, and we can work.   -Jacques Cousteau


In some ways, I've come close to losing my hope these days--and why wouldn't I?  In my country, the system of checks and balances that our government is supposedly based on has crumbled, and is completely failing the country now.  We have politicians who, because of superiority of numbers, are able to do virtually anything they please, without facing any consequences, for they've seen the flaws in the system and rather than fix those flaws, they exploit them, to the harm of all.  I'm watching people violate Constitutional law constantly while facing absolutely NO repercussions for doing so.  I'm seeing families torn apart while people pat each other on the back for having done so--even though no one in those families has done anything to deserve that fate.  It's depressing, and it's disheartening.  And to be completely honest, I believe it's all quite evil.

But I do hope.  I have the hope that things will turn eventually.  I don't know what it will take--a general or two to finally stand up and fulfill their vows to uphold the Constitution?  A group of people elected in the mid-terms who can turn the tide and help to keep the rule of law from being violated constantly?  I know in my heart, unfortunately, that we face the prospect of the entire country being sucked into an abyss of corruption and violation of law, but sometimes things have to be broken down completely in order to be rebuilt better.

My hope is that better times are ahead, especially for our young people, who don't deserve the obstacles that we've put in front of them by simply accepting all that happens in our government and in the business world.  I have hope that we can allow our humanity to shine in the ways that we spread kindness and love and compassion.  I have hope that we can work together, rather than yell at each other across a great divide.  I have hope that we shall overcome, and not submit.  I have hope that Love will find a way.

Here. Now. --A Paragraph a Day

As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are.
Otherwise you will miss most of your life.   ~the Buddha

Where am I right now?  What's around me?  How many of us can answer that question truthfully and fully for most of the moments we experience?  It's so easy to be so busy and so distracted that we become blind to all of the beauty and kindness that's always present in our lives, and to believe those other people in our lives who tell us that life is stressful and frustrating and difficult and unfair.  But if we can just be aware of our present moments, if we can just stop now and then and look around and listen and feel to make sure we're not missing something normally wonderful, then we can add something profoundly moving to our lives.  Right here and right now are the only moments of our lives that we have to actually live, and that's something that we really need to take advantage of if we're to make the most of these lives that we have.