Every year around my birthday, falling 18 days before the new year, I reflect on how the world seems to have gotten a little worse. I don’t anticipate this year to be an exception.
Whether it actually gets worse, or I simply become more knowledgeable about the darker side of humanity, I don’t know. I suspect a little of both.
Political division, inflation, health care, global warming, the war in Ukraine, over 14,000 protesters detained in Iran, and The New York Times opinion alerts I keep getting about increasing racial divisions and white supremacy make up a fraction of the concerns for humanity on my mind heading into my 21st birthday.
I don’t believe the world has become devoid of good, or even anywhere near it. However, if you watch “Silence of the Lambs” and It’s a “Wonderful Life” on the same day, which one will be more likely to keep you up at night?
As news outlets flood their feeds with reports of death and division, it becomes harder to find hope.
It sounds cheesy to talk about hope. We don’t often put a name to the feeling, but realistically it drives most of what we do. Why would anyone go to school, teach, work, write, etc., if not for the sake of hope for what these things will accomplish?
When we lose hope, then what?
If you find yourself losing hope in the general state of humanity, become the hope.
In the spring of 2020, I co-wrote a column about paying it forward in a pandemic. A reader commented that the piece demonstrated how news, even in the midst of a pandemic, does not need to be negative.
Journalists, especially, have the power to provide hope. Stories about soup kitchen volunteers or rescued puppies likely won’t win any awards. However, they might make it more bearable to get through the articles on the opioid epidemics or wars that might win awards.
Providing hope can be simpler than writing about it.
My favorite movie, “Pay it Forward“, offers a challenge. Commit a life-changing act of kindness for three people, then ask them to pay it forward. As the holiday season approaches, think of three people in need of such an act. It can be as simple as making sure a friend does not spend a holiday alone. How big or small the action should depend on what the person needs.
Through the holidays and beyond, don’t wait on the world to make you feel better about its state. Instead, when you don’t see the hope, be the hope.