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When I first came to DU, this place reminded me just a little of Callahan's Place, a place where people understood that shared pain was lessened and shared joy was increased. Even in the midst of some fairly heated debates, I knew that we shared some basic moral and humanitarian philosophies. But lately it's become fairly obvious that both nihilism and blatant misanthropy in all too many guises are alive and well here, and growing stronger every day.
When I see people here who seem to find the vision of humanity's destruction as enticing a picture as do the far-right Christians who hunger for Armageddon, I am reminded all too clearly that my abiding faith in humanity puts me in one of DU's smallest minorities. I see that no matter how hard some of us strive to lift us up, there are entirely too many who act as psychological and psychic ballast, begrudging us even the tiniest hope of a brighter future.
When things are at their darkest, when all hope seems lost, that's when it's most vital to keep that tiny flicker of optimism alive. That somehow, despite everything, we can weather the worst storms and bring us all through the tempest with our hearts and minds intact.
We see so much negative news every single day. The crimes of this administration, the apparent disinterest in pursuing justice on the part of our Democratic leadership in and out of Congress, the banging of the war drums escalating into a thunderous roar, the teetering economy and the price of oil, the impact of incipient climate change, the spectre of wide-spread pollution all over the globe, the wars we are fighting, the wars we might be fighting in the future, and attempted genocide halfway across the world. And that's all without mentioning the complicity of the very people who are supposed to have the job of keeping us informed of the events of the world.
None of us can solve all the world's problems. Hell, most of us can't come up with a decent solution for even one of them. But, hell, we can sure bitch and moan about it all. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The good news is that we care enough to come here and discuss these issues day in and day out. We do our best to spread the truth to all who will listen. But the minute we allow all of this to crush our spirit, to sap us of our will to search out a light at the end of the tunnel, we have taken the first step to defeating ourselves.
Our intelligence, adaptability, and creativity are incredible assets that may yet save us, but only if we recognize their worth and use them to address what issues we can. If we can conquer one obstacle, resolve but one dilemma, we have taken a great step toward freeing ourselves from the chains of fear and despair that threaten to drown us.
I have no patience with strutting nihilism or masturbatory misanthropy. We are not all monsters, nor are monsters even a sizable portion of our population. The reason they seem so large in number is because they possess the drive and lack of social restraints that make it possible to grind hesitant opposition into the dirt beneath their heels.
I come here to get the news, sure. But I also come here to seek reasons for hope, to energize and lift up those who are faltering, and offer a sympathetic ear to those who are hurting. I do NOT come here to witness us being condemned, or brutalized by those for whom "hope" has become a dirty four-letter word.
Without hope, there is no point to any of this. None at all. Even in the face of repeated betrayal by our so-called leaders, we have a choice to make. To let circumstances grind us down and steal from us our resolve and strength to resist, or to stand tall together and continue to work for those things that might remake the world in the image we still hold in our hearts and minds.
If those of us who gather here turn away from hope and embrace despair, we might as well slink away to cower in our homes and give up the fight forever.
Personally, I'm not prepared to do that. And if I get the feeling that this place has lost the one thing that made it special, that spark of humanity that made us all more than the sum of our parts, I may as well turn my attention to other things and forget DU forever.
I have no room in my life for ballast.
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