It is tempting to believe that a lot is happening TO us at the moment.
A still-creeping pandemic, a Supreme Court that seems intent on rolling back long-established rights, a minority of angry people, including a shocking number of our own representatives, who are conspiring to promote the end of democracy, a relentlessly hotter world.
(Ok, when I write it like that, it does seem as though a lot is happening TO us).
But, my friends, as annoying as it might be, we have agency. We might have a little teeny bit of influence, or a lot, but we all have some.
In America, we are used to a national spirit of optimism. The country is built on it - it’s a core part of our national narrative to believe that tomorrow will be better than today. And historically, we have often made it so. We have invented and explored and built and fought, and yes, enslaved and freed, oppressed and enfranchised. We have learned some things (and too quickly forgotten others), but we keep getting up, because, ultimately, we believe in our own potential.
Some of our challenges are different today than they have been historically. Some are the same. Some have been eliminated by technology, some are new because of technology.
But sometimes it seems as though our inventing and exploring and building and fighting is having less impact than it used to. It seems as though media and technology are mediating our cries for change, and inequality is broadening the gap between those who can underwrite action and those who cannot.
But it’s not true. Or at least, I don’t think it is.
Media and technology can also amplify small voices, and crowd-funding can elevate grassroots efforts in ways that were not possible even a decade ago.
But we have to be willing to use these tools and take back our narratives, elevate our action, form partnerships and networks and inspire ourselves right off the couch. Yep - it can be tough and takes energy. (But it can also be fun.)
The public hearings of the January 6th Committee, if you are watching them, might make you a bit depressed to see how low some of our ‘leaders’ have stooped. But the fact that this Committee, despite personal costs to its members, has collected so much evidence, analyzed it, and is now sharing its findings publicly and transparently….I choose to believe it could be the beginning of a transition. A transition back to integrity, democracy, law for all, and re-engagement of average people with reasonable expectations for a good and healthy life and for good and honorable leaders, whichever party we vote for.
We have to demand and enact this transition though. We average people. We have to get up again. We have to keep believing in our own potential.
On Gritty Hope
"One kind of hope is the expectation that tomorrow will be better than today. It's the kind of hope that has us yearning for summer weather, or a smoother path ahead. It comes without the burden of responsibility. The onus is on the universe to make things better.
Grit depends on a different kind of hope. It rests on the expectation that our own efforts can improve our future. I have a feeling tomorrow will be better is different from I resolve to make tomorrow better. The hope that gritty people have has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with getting up again."
Angela Duckworth, from the book ‘Grit’.