I know, I know, I know. It’s dark out there. The BP oil spread (not spill) is like an incubus sitting on our souls, reminding us of how dark things are and what we have wrought. Afghanistan. Iraq. Global warming. Corporate greed. And the clock is ticking. What chance do we have to turn this thing around?
And yet….and yet.
Like Dickens wrote “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times…a time of great hope, a time of great despair.” When I pay attention, I’m constantly being reminded of the things that are happening that have never happened before. Good things, that show something might change in a way we can barely dream of. Here are three:
Zack Lieberman (son of my friend and fellow storyteller Syd Lieberman) has found a way to use computers to enable disabled folks and others to do things that seem impossible. Zack says he wants to replace DIY (do it yourself) with DIWO (do it with others). Here’s a video of him talking about his work:
My lifelong pal Dave Kidney told me about a young guy from Vermont (now in Troy, NY), Eben Bayer, who has figured out how to create insulation from leftover plant material (soybeanhusks, peanut shells, whatever) and mushrooms – no Styrofoam, just organic substance created on the site. He’s talking to Ford and other corporations about how to use it in their products. Talk about low impact – here he is talking about that.
Finally , in the New York Review of Books, Nicholas Stern reviews Bill McKibben’s new book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet and says that despite the dire situation, significant movement is being made towards humanity’s addressing global warming. The governments are moving, albeit slowly, and innovation, like that I mention above, will make a difference. We are being asked to do something together in a way humanity never has before. And people are trying – finding new ways to collaborate and develop.
So, today, I’m not wallowing in despair. Oh sure, tomorrow I’ll walk around with a cloud over my head. But hope is just as reasonable as despair.
Nice reminder on staying resilient. Becoming a Realistic Optimist takes courage, practise and persistance. Thanks Bill for a wonderful reminder.
That’s right Bill. No matter what the newspeople say, for as many sad, worrisome, violent things they report about, there are even more nonviolent, loving, happy events occurring, many times over. I do know what is happening in the world, but choose NOT to get my info via TV news. Just watching that is such a downer, no wonder why people feel so gloomy. There is HOPE and GOOD PEOPLE doing GOOD THINGS, every minute of every day. Look for that. Seek out goodness. Surround yourself with like-people. Thank the sun and the moon and the stars that there are great people in our world, still doing great things. YOU do great things. All of us can.
I heard on June 21st, the Summer Solstice, of the research and development being done over the last 2 years, funded by the actor Kevin Costner, to separate oil from seawater using essentially a large centrifuge. A question of having the right tool at the right time for a desparate need. Maybe I will here that this tool is just part of a big corporate scam, but given the timing of this information, I am disinclined to see it that way.
I am a firm believer in synchronicity. For me it is clear we need to do what Bill is doing and pay attention to the things we want to support with our attention/energy. If we are willing to trust that good things will come to solve what goes wrong, we may go far enough down the rabbit hole and come out in a world where this is always so. Ditch the cloud Bill, and keep working on that boat;-)
C.
In response to the ticket giveaway as posted on Facebook, I see a common theme in your reasons for being hopeful: Hope springs from selflessness that betters the lives of others as evidenced by the works of Zack Lieberman, Eben Bayer, and the findings in McKibben’s book.
I am an elementary librarian which is a fabulous job. For 17 years prior to this career, I was a middle and high school SpEd teacher which was extraordinarily rewarding though it was exhausting, both mentally and physically. For my 22 years in education, I find hope in seeing youth step up and display that same selflessness.
A specific example happened after the devastating floods here in Nashville during the first weekend in May. Many counties dismissed school the following Monday due to the extensive damage. I got a call from a friend who is the mom of a middle schooler inviting me to join middle schoolers in flood clean up on Monday. I went thinking that it would be me, a couple of moms, and 4 or 5 middle schoolers. I was so wrong. With great joy and no complaining (really!), 40 middle schoolers chose to shovel mounds of mud, clear out creek beds, haul trash and treasures of broken people to the curb, and do whatever was needed to help people they didn’t even know. I can’t say that I would’ve done that on a day off in middle school! And you know what? They did the same thing again on Tuesday. I was more than encouraged about the future by this experience.
It’s good, Bill. It’s good.