I’m an eternal optimist.
I can’t help it.
Even though I have moments where what is happening in the world gets me down and yeah, I have been known to rant and rave at the injustices of the world! And even though sometimes I rage at certain individuals’ poor behaviour, I always turn it around. After the anger subsides, compassion quickly follows… because I know that we are all imperfect, we all have unhealed emotional wounds that cause us to act poorly towards each other and we all need to grow sometimes in painful ways in order to get to a better version of ourselves and society.
I’m an eternal optimist and I can’t help it. If I am bombarded too much by stories by News Companies that insist on showing us daily the worst in human nature, it can get to me too. So I try to stay away from these.. But when there is a global pandemic and you’re trying to be a good citizen and listen to what is happening and act in accordance with guidelines, I have been forced into watching and listening to so-called “news”.
I don’t know what’s so new about telling us that “humans are bad and do bad things” – which is 99% of all news stories. If you watch the “news” you would be mistaken in thinking that everyone in the world is “bad”.
4 days ago, I caught the end of a news programme and they had one non-covid-19 story which was how police had been called to a house where a man had killed 2 women.
So they interrupted “everyone’s dying still” and “everyones not following social distancing and trashing beauty spots” “news” that “someone has murdered people with no explanation given”.
Is it any wonder that we live in a world of apathy? If we’re only shown the worst of people over and over again, then we begin to think that, “hey this is just human nature, this is just how things are, you can’t change it, so why bother? ”
But what if the daily news showed us all the good things that people do on a daily basis? Not just on “slow bad news cycle days” when they have space to fill! But if their focus was on what good is happening all around the world? Then would we feel more optimistic?
I have noticed that during the global lockdown there have been more positive stories by the news agencies … because they have time to fill and even they can’t fill it with hours of just “wash your hands and stay home”… so you have seen news stories of how communities have come together, you have seen stories of romance blossoming from a distance, you have seen how unexpected people have become heroes and inspiration to others. THERE IS GOOD NEWS IN THE WORLD even in the middle of a pandemic… it’s not special to the pandemic! It’s there every single day, in every community, in every corner of the world.
And if you can’t see it on the mainstream news, then I say, search it out!
People are inherently good. What changes this, is personal hurt that their minds experience that turns them away from their true nature.
You can find proof that the world is getting worse and you can prove that the world is changing for the better… these can both be true at the same time. We have dualistic minds so people often feel it’s one of the other. But if 2020 has shown one thing, it’s that you have to hold both to be true.
In 2020, the WHOLE world is participating in the lockdown. We have for the first time in history, a shared global experience not based on war.
For the first time we can see global inequality.
We can see the leaders who have integrity and who don’t.
We can see which governments have helped their citizens and which ones haven’t.
We can see who plays valuable roles in society.
We can see that in crisis – people have come together, to provide hope, community, care, compassion, entertainment and much more! This has shown us that most people are inherently good, kind, compassionate.
In 2020 have a unique opportunity as the human race to collectively make new and better choices for how we want to live going forward. How we can be more inclusive to those who have been marginalised in the past.
Even in the midst of the George Floyd protests you can see that although it is causing an escalation of emotion (rightly so) and it is in protest for this and many atrocities against the African-American community… even there you can see good people standing up, taking a knee, protesting and giving support – on a global level.
Yes, there is often a heavy price to pay for change to happen, I wish there wasn’t. I really wish there wasn’t. But, for the majority of people, something has to hurt bad before they create change. Pain leads to change. I wish change just happened without the pain. I’m a big promoter of change without pain, but I also accept that pain is a great motivator.
But even in the greatest darkness, in the deepest of pain, I look for the gift of light and if you look it’s ALWAYS there.
Let’s believe in the goodness of people and let’s spread love in 2020. I hope that 2020 becomes known as the year of loving change… dare I say Loving Revolution? We have a responsibility to transmit love, not hate. Love is always the answer, even when it doesn’t look like it on the surface…. Ask any of the great sages through the millennia… what to do in any situation and the answer is always “love”. “ Love more.”
Martin Luther King Jr is one of my heroes, he understood that we need to love not hate, educate not hate. He knew that love is always the answer.
I’m an eternal optimist. I can’t help it. I hope 2020 will be remembered for the love we showed each other.
There are 6 months of this year left. Let’s see what more love in our hearts can do to make 2020 a year we remember because it changed the world for the better.
We deserve better, let’s make it better together.