Because Hope trumps Despair

Thom Hartmann likes to say that democracy is in the American DNA now and that we'll never tolerate anything less.

I like to think he's right.

My faith in us, not only as Americans, but as humans, is perhaps misplaced. I think some people believe it is--that we're rightfully doomed and our fate will be exactly what we deserve. I don't get the self-loathing, to be honest. Yes, we've made some terrible mistakes, but for all our weaknesses, greed, and selfishness, there is a spark of something majestic in us as well. Something transcendent, something that lifts us up above the pettiness that suffuses so much of our history as a race.

And I like think we have a destiny beyond ultimate self-destruction, that we can make a fate for ourselves far beyond the tool-using apes with no purpose other than falling on our collective face. We're curious monkeys, with a fierce desire to know all there is to know, even if it IS out of reach. In some ways that's a dangerous thing, but it might well be our salvation as well.

I think those who think like Bush and company greatly underestimate us as well. They think we're all as petty and fearful as they are--certain that everyone not precisely like ourselves mean us harm.

On one hand we have the people who believe it's our destiny to destroy ourselves because their God says we will, and, on the other, we have those who think it's our destiny to destroy ourselves because we are young and foolish monkeys and we play with things beyond our understanding.

I, personally, will take the third path. We will NOT destroy ourselves and, in the end, we will confront the truth of our past, and our evolution, and find a way to move beyond it. It may take a trip to the edge, and a long stare into the depths of oblivion, but we will pull ourselves back from that precipice and move forward together into a spectacular future the likes of which few men and women have ever contemplated.

I can only pity those who seem to hunger for our doom. Those who think we are sinners by nature, or that our dark natures outweigh the light that also resides within us. We argue with such great passion about freedom, and justice, and hope, and yet we condemn ourselves often in the same breath as creatures not worthy of being saved, or saving ourselves.

No, we do not have time for tyrants, for power-mad dictators wrapped in visions of their own glory. We have things to do and places to go, and a planet to save. A future to forge, reaching beyond our limitations toward a place of infinite possibilities.

Do not despair for our follies. Exalt in our potential. One will win out in the end.

I'm betting on the latter.

The more you say it the better it sounds...Thanks.

Such a great post. It really is inspiring, and I think it can apply to all sorts of things - not just in our fate as a species.:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Very nice, I love thom hartmann too. Makes me want to move to Portland

The Pacific Northwest is beautiful.

Because if we live in just hope we will die in despair.

This is the thing Al Gore has made the world aware of. For many years I've been watching it looming larger. Now we're not just dealing with ourselves. We have something bigger that is on the verge of turning us into dinosaurs. We wouldn't have made it this many thousands and millions of years if we were not primarily beneficent creatures. Fascism dies. Democracy has to fight an uphill battle. But we're all exactly the same inside. Whether we pretend to be conservatives or not. We've just amplified everything with petroleum. Now we have taken our ideological differences down a new road. But in the meantime this monster is peaking it's head over the horizon. I find the timing to be most intriguing. It's as though we're on the edge of killing each other, when suddenly earth says "HEY! I'm in control". Our focus is being forced in yet another new direction. One which abandons our frictions with each other. We're about to relearn survival. That might be a quick cure for what ails us. If we pay attention.

To be fair, WWI and WWII are other recent examples of the world being torn apart... but at least then, countries were united within themselves (mostly) even if they were fighting each other, whereas these days, political divisions within countries are deep, and not just here in the US.

I really like your idea of the earth saying to us tiny little humans "that's enough, kids"--very profound. Let's hope we listen.

Sorry, that was the first thing I thought of when I read your headline.

As to the rest, I wish I could be hopeful, but even out of the educated people that I know no one seems to be keeping up with what's going on. I think they are living their comfortable lives and don't pay attention because it never hits them directly.

And I think most people don't really understand what our country is founded on, not really. It's just a mantra at this point. Best country in the world. America, land of the free, home of the brave. I don't think those words carry much meaning any more.

And this country as a whole is anti-intellectual, at best simply not intellectual. That's really a sad thing. The founding fathers were very educated and very intellectual. I think this country has lost its way and I'm not sure it's going to get back on the intended path of the great experiment.

I just saw Mort Sahl Friday night, and he opened it up to questions so I asked him if he thought the constitution would be restored or not. He told a story about when he went to England and went to a restaurant owned by Michael Caine. He said when he walked in Caine greeted him loudly and said, "Mort! What are you doing in England?" and Mort replied, "We all came back. The experiment failed."

Two steps forward and one step back is still progress.

The founding fathers were the elite. The great unwashed weren't any more intellectual then, I imagine, than they are now. Most were probably priest or preacher-ridden. This is a work in progress and sometimes they falter and have to be re-aligned and restructured on occasion.

We may have to stand on the edge and stare into oblivion to wake ourselves up. But it looks as though that's going to happen one way or another.

:applause:

We dare to be Pioneers of Possibility! :thumbsup:

One must have despair to have hope. If one has what one seeks, he has no hope nor despair, he has that which he seeks. In order to have hope, one must not have what one seeks, and the same is the case for despair, one must not have what one seeks in order to have it.

In other words, hope is icing on a shit cake.

I think our success as a species is in our ability to cooperate with one another to achieve that which is not possible by any other means. Tyranny, slavery, imperialism, and even corporatism, all work in different ways to break down this natural tendency we have to cooperate with each other.

The current crop of would-be fascists prey very heavily upon another human instinct, xenophobia. They know exactly how to press all the right buttons to keep people divided, whether it's gay bashing or immigration scare-mongering or criminalizing Islam or denigrating affirmative action. It all works on the same human genetic code.

Look at who has made up our country. People began here by leaving their country of origin because of oppression. They came to make a new start for themselves. Since that time many people from many different countries have done the same. They have chosen to make a new life for themselves. They saw hope and a new future for themselves. OUR country is now made up of these sort of people, people who choose the make a better life. These people have created much innovation here. Sometimes it is something seemingly small, but changes the way we all live.

I hopeful that we will see a wellspring of innovation begin to happen in the near future, seemingly small, that change all our lives for the better.

enough with the myth of america's superiority complex. It was built by wealthy white men on the bodies of the red and black people and women of any color.

If we don't stand up to be the leaders, someone else will.

NGU.

I mean, why bother, right?

And... I AM SPARTICUS!!

NGU.