Hopeful and Alive, Really
A note on optimism in today’s world
It’s a mess out there.
You know what I mean — the general world, out there.
I can start with the fact that we as a collective generation have managed to tip the carbon balance in the largest (7.2 million km²) tropical rainforest we know of, and turned a delicate ecosystem (perfected through 10 million years of evolution) into a joke, as it now emits GHG and acts as a carbon source instead of sinking it, thanks to large-scale human disruption including deforestation and forest burning.
You wouldn’t even bat an eyelid. This was all over the news mid-2021. This is so last year.
Every generation wages few wars. Nobody’s in it for glory.
Ours are challenging times — global uncertainty, anti-humanitarian invasions, increasing isolation and loneliness, lot of climate anxiety, tech bro lunacy, more doses of anxiety thanks to the perpetual media limelight on tyranny of the rich/powerful etc etc.
There’s that impending feeling of doom in the air.
Meanwhile, a fun character in an HBO drama chimes —
“What I’m saying is, right, we’re fucking lucky, d’you know what I mean?
We’re living in the best time in the history of the world — on the best fucking planet.
If you can’t be satisfied living now, here, you’re never gonna be satisfied.”
Are you taken aback?
I was, when I heard it the first time. It sounded unreal.
Despite it all, the world remains beautiful, too. And you know this, earnestly.
Note to self:
What matters is your perspective. Your stillness right now, in the moment.
Take a breather.. zoom out.
There’s a LOT that’s out of your control. But there’s serenity in acknowledging it.
There’s bravery in moving on, and in doing things meaningfully, as much as your individual capacity permits.
And it is wise to seek and emulate grace through the journey.
..find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful.
- Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo (letter; London, January 1874)
The sentiment echoed by the seemingly happy-go-lucky character in HBO’s White Lotus S2 (quote at top) is directed at characters who you and I can identify with… the ones who want to experience absolute satisfaction, and often tend to think that they have what they want, but not what they really need.
That dialogue made me hit pause and rewind.
You might agree with writer Amos Barshad, who reviews the scene, and says “to feel hopeful in 2022, you also had to feel — at least a little bit — like an idiot.”
I did feel that vibe shift.
Hope is keeping me alive.
