ELECTION 2020

Will America Drown in Hope? We Might Need Wise Hope Next.

The difference between being naive and showing up.

We are crying and cringing and furious! To be honest, days like this always make me sad. My first emotion is never anger. I always implode and become very, very sad. Belly-aching sad.

Today is such a day. So I like to read stories that do express the anger better than I can ever write it. Luckily, I find those writers on Medium. They give me a perspective on naive hope and false positivity.

I agree with their analysis. Whoever wins, America has some growing up to do. Naive hope is destructive. It ignores reality and truth. But sad as I can be, I can never give up hope. No hope, no life. We need hope as a driver for change. So I want to tell you about wise hope.

Just join me on this exploration of what happens in our world and how we can still have hope and make a difference. All of us. Starting today.

Hope and Wishful Thinking

My exploration started with two of my favorite writers on this platform. The first is umair haque, who tells us so clearly why there was no Biden landslide.

“Americans tend to engage in wishful thinking. A certain kind of American wants endless optimism and positivity and so forth. But that is not how you actually win elections and change societies. You need to grapple seriously and analytically with the questions of social attitudes before you.” — Umair Haque

And then I read Jessica Wildfire. She writes about how this election shows us the real America (again).

“This is my family in a nutshell. It tells you a lot about America, and especially white people. It doesn’t matter what our politics are. A lot of us just can’t imagine anything bad ever happening. Half my family can’t be bothered to think about current events at all. They don’t recycle. The rest of them definitely voted for Trump.” — Jessica Wildfire

Do Americans tend to engage in wishful thinking? And can many of us just not imagine anything bad ever happening?

Is that the bottom line?

Are we really so blind that we do not see what’s right in front of our eyes? We hate, we fight, we say everything is the fault of others. And we do not even see that our whole planet is burning! The time is close that we will not be able to survive as humanity anymore. Even when bushfires are happening in our backyards, we close our eyes and pretend all is okay.

And all the while the casinos and bookmakers are expanding their businesses. Because we think that one day we will be rich and then WE will be the ones at the top of the pyramid. So why change the system that is making a few people ultra-rich not caring about the consequences of exponential growth?

Why care that billionaires’ wealth rises to $10.2 trillion amid Covid crisis? The answer is super simple. We still think we will be the silverback alpha male gorillas one day. We will elbow our way to the top no matter what.

And yes, I guess Americans might be masters. The inventors of ‘the American Dream’ in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success (read: loads of money). The inventors of ‘from Rags to Riches’.

I’m not an American, but in my European country, things are not so different. We are all like horses with blinkers on. We just see what we want to see. Nothing that takes us out of our comfort zone. We do our utmost to get our adrenaline pumping in rollercoasters and skydivers. But in our everyday lives, we want complacency. Nothing too challenging.

We have enough on our minds…

Wise Hope

Back to hope and positive thinking. Is hope really a bad thing? Well, it can be. Hope can also make us naive and unwilling to face the universal truth. And there is such a thing as toxic positivity.

So, what to do?

Give up hope? Moan and complain? Get depressed?

Hmm… that’s not really my style. I’m always writing about solutions. And not just everyday solutions that we hear all the time. No, I like special ones. Unusual, yucky materials for instance that will really change our world.

I like systemic solutions that take all the connections into account. I like upstream solutions that will really take responsibility for everything we human beings create. Products, waste, pollution, social consequences, and all.

Because let’s be honest. Everything is connected. The riches of today are connected to the slave trade. And that’s a basis for inequality. So they are also connected to the current racial protests.

The buying of a cheap synthetic shirt is connected to child labor, slave labor in other countries. And if we wash this shirt, we know the river will be polluted with microplastics. And that will add to the big bowl of plastic soup that we’re brewing in our oceans.

So, how can we have hope if everything is messed up?

Today, I read an article that sums up quite clearly what I feel about hope.

“Wise hope is not seeing things unrealistically but rather seeing things as they are, including the truth of suffering — both its existence and our capacity to transform it. It’s when we realize we don’t know what will happen that this kind of hope comes alive; in that spaciousness of uncertainty is the very space we need to act.” — Joan Halifax

So from now on, I’ll borrow the term ‘wise hope’. Because I like it. I think we humans are on earth to be wise caretakers for future generations. And if we combine wise hope with solutions, there might be a chance. But we need to grow the wave of change.

We need to show up and do what we need to do.

That’s what life is for. And let me tell you, living like this is fun. It gives me great friends, lots of love, and purposeful work.

What Can We Do?

When I get to this part of a story, people often ask me: but what can I do? How do I know I’m doing the right thing? It’s all so complicated!

Well, it’s not difficult at all! We just need to adopt a mindset change.

Let’s start with the truth. There’s only one truth and that’s the fact that we have to live with natural laws. We have to live on a planet that has cycles and flows. If we transition our lives from control to trust, nature can do what she does best. Produce abundance.

Example: we plant one crop and kill the weeds around it. Why not design a regenerative farming system with biodiversity in and above the soil and use all that nature has to offer? It takes some clever design. But who said we are dumb? We can do it! Let’s do it! And if you’re not a farmer, just buy your food from the closest farmer who does understand nature…

Let’s look at money. Take a good look in the mirror and realize that a lot of what we do is pure addiction. We are addicted to shopping. Stop it! We all know that the next pair of shoes we don’t need is not going to make us happy. It’s the dopamine, silly!

Someone even invented shopping therapy. Duhuh. Are we really so stupid to sacrifice our planet for a five-minute-rush of chemicals in our brains? Let’s spend our money with our hearts on products with a soul.

Let’s have a look at love. We say we love, but all we do is try to push our own perception onto others. That’s not loving. That’s manipulation. That’s trolling.

We can do better. Try it close to home by accepting your partner completely. Celebrate the good things you have together. By building on the positive, the negative will turn. Grow softer. And heal.

Dare to make choices. Radical choices about what you want in life. Act. Show up. Care and take responsibility for your own life.

A Small Step

Wise hope. I don’t want to lose it. And Americans might adopt it too. Not staying in their bubble and pretending nothing’s wrong. But showing up and acting. Every change starts with a small step. That shouldn’t be too hard for wise people wanting to live life fully…

If you want to reach out, you can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, my website.