30 Comments
Oct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald

I teach 8th grade. For the last 16 years, I’ve had a front row seat to kids moving on to HS. I see how they change & grow into the coolest, smartest & most resourceful humans who go on to change their worlds & communities. That gives me hope all the time. I feel confident that future generations can figure things out & make the world better. Art gives me hope & so does writing. Obviously, climate change inspires fear, as does the general feeling of division that permeates the US these days, but I also believe humans can & do overcome & change.

Expand full comment

Dude, I don’t even know anymore. I just know that I’m still going. And that’s something.

Expand full comment
Oct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald

A quote from Vaclav Havel comes to mind, and it's one that encourages me over and over again.

Hope is not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

Expand full comment
Oct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald

I'm a hopeful person by nature. Not to say that there aren't things that leave me seriously concerned and worried. What brings me the most global hope is working with community college biology students doing field work. When students make a discovery in their local environment and they get really excited about it, well, it just makes my day! That, and my kids. Being around teens who are really thoughtful about their future and the world.

Expand full comment
Oct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald

No, I don't harbor hope. Hope numbs us to the horrific realities that we face and reduces the urgency to act. If grassroots efforts in every state imitated the brilliant work of Stacy Abrams in Georgia (and Ben Winkler in Wisconsin), Democratic turnout would rise from a 'high' in 2020 of 65% to a consistent 90% in every local, state, and federal election (even without action by feckless Democratic leadership in DC). Of course, even our hapless leadership must act to kill voter nullification laws. FB's poison has divided much of the world, but are unlikely to be effectively regulated. I have no hope that the majority of adults will delete FB, even though it would destroy Zuckerberg in an instant. People could stop buying/watching/consuming Chinese products/services immediately and thus reduce the dire national security threat of China, but people won't do it. Hope is not possible with weak leaders and a populace unaccustomed to sacrifice for the greater good. There are certainly individuals who possess extraordinary talents and goodwill, but on a whole of society basis, we are not an admirable, brave, selfless, or kind people. Perhaps not what you wanted to hear, but you asked for blunt honesty.

Expand full comment
Oct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald

It’s hard to answer that. As a parent, anything less than a “yes” feels like you’re condemning your child’s future. I’m hopeful that the next generation of decision-makers will be more enlightened, less short-sighted, and less greedy, but it’s impossible to know. Most people I see out there now in positions to make critical decisions just seem pretty shitty.

Expand full comment
Oct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald

I try to be. Mariame Kaba describes hope as a discipline and to reconceptualize it as so has allowed me to see being hopeful as a practice; to remind myself that I have agency and that there is a purpose to staying hopeful. That staying hopeful is not a matter of how favorable or not my circumstances are at the moment, but a values-oriented decision based on the kind of life I want to lead (politically, interpersonally, etc.). Sometimes what helps is believing that I don’t want to be a source of/contribute to the feelings of hopelessness of those around me. Where would we be without our ability and willingness to dream? How could anyone, otherwise, even start to seriously ponder that things can be done differently? But it is…hard. It’s incredibly hard not to fall into a pit of despair constantly, given the state of things. In that sense, Cam’s answer made sense and even resonated with me. Staying hopeful during the pandemic has been *a feat*. But I feel that I have to. Hope has to be the last thing I lose.

Expand full comment
Oct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald

Humans are highly resourceful and I put some of my hope in that general understanding when it comes to problems that need to be solved by science and technology. I do not, at the moment, feel much hope regarding the American political situation. The problems we face, in particular climate change, won't be fixed by our current crew--weak on one side, dastardly on the other.

Expand full comment
Oct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald

i've been thinking a lot about this recently (i'm sure we all have!). some "thought leader" will say in 100 years we'll look back on this time with *some feeling* and i have a really hard time believing that there will be a 100 years from now that looks anything livable? i so so so so so hope i'm wrong but I think all the ticking clocks of climate change (at least how it's reported in the news) makes me feel like our timeline is so short that it's hard to picture centuries in the future which is really scary!

Expand full comment

I had to think really hard about this question, and the answer is a nuanced no. I am not hopeful for anything because I feel I've already got everything I want, so I'm not hoping for anything else. But there's another, specific hope that I can think of here (hence the nuance), which is the hope that I'll see my dad (who was recently diagnosed with cancer) again. And there I'm also not hopeful because I don't think I'll make it back home to see him in time. (We're in different countries and borders are still closed for mine.) So yes, not hopeful in the sense of not hoping for anything (good) and not expecting to see my father again (bad). Am I making sense?

Expand full comment
Oct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald

Yeah, I'm hopeful. I think humans by nature are worriers, and tend to lean pessimistic. Especially in today's age where most of the things we see and hear are negative (due to the nature of how the media economy works). Where in reality nothing is as simple as we understand it to be. None of us really know what's coming next with how many new directions the world's going, but I do know that I'll make the best of it; That we've always come out on top before; And that life is always shorter than we want it to be.

So I say, what other option do I have if I want to enjoy the rest of my 24,000 days?

Expand full comment
Oct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald

I wouldn't so much call myself hopeful as simply excited and enthusiastic about the future. I've survived quite a bit of abuse in my life, and yet when I look around today I see so much warmth and resourcefulness and opportunities for connection. And as others have said I continue to be so impressed and heartened by the intelligence and thoughtfulness and care of the generations following mine. As human beings we have always had challenges facing us, but we've managed to persevere this far. And if we somehow don't make it I still feel fortunate to have caught the wave for as long as it's lasted.

Expand full comment

I've had a lot of trouble with depression over the last five ish years. The thing that's keeping me going is writing a fantasy novel and sharing bits of it with my friends.

- I've created a space where everything is going to be okay because I said so

- I can bring people I care about there, sort of

It's based on a D&D campaign I played in a couple years ago, and that means I've got a built-in audience of people who will get all the references ^^ escapism *and* validation!

Expand full comment

Hope. For me, it is the essence of being a human. The simple desire to have something to look forward to when you wake up tomorrow. So simple and so profound at the same time. Even in the darkest moments, hope has a way of holding on. I have always been the most optimistic guy in the room, but more importantly, I am a realist. Anyone paying attention can see that Hope is needed more than ever. I am 62 and lucky enough to still enjoy the wonders of life. This planet is still a paradise on so many levels . . . but we are slipping through it’s hands. My hope will be put to the test as never before, but for now, I still can’t wait to jump out of bed every day.

Expand full comment
deletedOct 28, 2021Liked by Isaac Fitzgerald
Comment deleted
Expand full comment