I changed my Facebook cover photo to this…
Spider-Man reminding us all to check our pride. “…We need to give each other the benefit of the doubt, or there won’t be anything left of us but our pride.”
“When you walk around only expecting the worst, that’s all you’ll ever see.” – George Scully
I have grown weary seeing only the worst. That’s why I am not on social media as much as I was at one time, these days. I have trained myself to see the worst. In my defense there have been some very good examples of the worst given by my peers and friends. And I have cut some people off for the simple reason that I don’t need the additional head noise. Some had to go because I do not do conspiracy theories on my own time – nor white nationalist agendas. That bullshit had to go. In the wake of their exit I have become sensitive to seeing ‘the worst’. I can’t live there, though. I need to believe (apart from glassy eyed believers and Nazi sympathizers) that we can give each other the benefit of the doubt. I need to believe this because Spidey is right, if we can’t, “there won’t be anything left but our pride.”
A simple hope. The return of normalcy, of dignity, of unity. No cults or bigots. A place where confirmation biases are recognized – both yours and mine – where we can set them aside, rationally discuss issues, compromise, and move forward towards a common good – towards a future. A future for all. A future worth having.
A simple hope, I know. But a worthy one.
I look forward to a time when this election is behind us. I hope it is a future without the current occupant of the White House for reasons found on the previous 1,367 pages of this tome*. The future I see is after this dark time in history. It will come – eventually. When it does, may we have the eyes to see our mistakes, the ears to listen, the hands to help, and the heart to change. We will need them all for healing to happen but happen it must.
It will.
We owe it to the future – to pass on to them a world worth having.
Perhaps, one day, we will look back in remembrance of the lessons learned from this time – a time then far behind us and wonder at the changes that have come to pass and how far we have come.
I hope so. It is a simple hope – for a better future.
Simple but worthy.
Selah.
*Gentle Reader, I have been keeping a journal since the beginning
of the quarantine. This humble blog post
is part of a much bigger project. The
project is growing. I will keep doing so
until the new normal is established as, well, the new normal or, probably, for
another 1,300 pages. It is not fit for
human consumption at this time, but it is doing exactly what it needs to do –
mark this time in history, document day to day life, and keep me sane.
