Hope is ingrained in us along with other survival instincts. These days, however, it is easy for the tendancy to be hopeful to be overridden by reason when we see so many hard facts that quash our hope. Many people choose to hope because it is more pleasant, and in America being positive is very popular, we try to teach it to our children. I have hope not because it is something light and fluffy to distract me from the discouragement of reality, but because my reason allows me to be.
I once thought we were going downhill, being consumed with apathy and becoming hollower and stupider and crueler. I have learned now that I was wrong- we have always been incredibly apathetic and hollow and stupid and cruel. Thus I take no special fear from our present state of humanity (though I do from teh present state of the world). How humans are acting as a mass is nothing particularly epic, though the melodramatic in us would say so. So I have hope.
With every decay brought on by inaction, there is eventually a movement to counter this, and it often picks up. For example, pesticides used on crops cause many ecological problems in the lands of and around the farms growing teh foods and in the people consuming the foods. Now, I am beginning to see a rising organic food trend rise up. Stores like Vons are offering scores of products that are certified organic, and such products are only becoming more popular. This trend has come to answer the problem of chemical use in farming. It gives me hope that other trends can rise for other beneficial shifts in our daily activity. I only hope it catches on and hasn't come too late.
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