The cynical optimist

If you don’t like politics, or don’t want to read about politics then I’d advise you to stop reading.

I wasn’t going to write this tonight, I was going to sleep…

There were times during this year that I wasn’t going to write this post at all.

I don’t know if this post will even make sense because I’m writing it while angry, and confused and just trying to make sense of the world we now find ourselves in. So bear with me…

It’s 2 a.m. on Tuesday October 27th…There are 7 days until Election night in the US. As of typing this it’s only been a few hours since the Senate Republicans pushed through a Supreme Court Justice in an illegitimate process as the people are voting for president. Millions of ballots have already been cast and I-

I’m-

I’m trying to make sense of my thoughts, but it’s all just a swirl of anger and frustration, mixed with despair and confusion….and just a faint, nearly imperceptible flicker of hope that despite the past four years still continues to burn.

and that flicker of hope is what I choose to focus on tonight.

I’m going to be honest. I’m exhausted. Day after day it seemed like there was some new tragedy, some new outrage, injustice, lie, crime, endless hate and horror, and sadness and there was so little I felt like I could do to change anything I never felt like my voice mattered or could lend anything to the conversation so I’ve left the talking up to the people who could.  So yeah, as you can probably tell…it’s been an overwhelming four years, all culminating in whatever you want to call this dumpster fire of a year. But I felt something tonight that both scared me and left me in awe.

I felt hope.

Despite it all, I’ve been looking at the polls and I felt hope for the future for the first time in years and I am not trusting the polls (2016 still haunts me) because I know we can’t afford to become complacent but if we all get out there and vote we can do something huge..

We can change the world.

I truly believe that and I want you to understand that and really think about what I just said.

We can change the world.

Seriously.

Though we have been bruised and so many of us are tired beyond belief it’s not over. We still have cards left to play including our ability to vote.

In 7 days we can change the course of our world. We can either lean into darkness and despair, or we can choose hope and light and love. We can choose to correct course and become the world and the people that I hope we can one day be.

However, it doesn’t end in 7 days.  In fact the real work begins then.

Voting alone will not be enough. We have to stay engaged, stay pushing for progress in any form. It’ll take us a long time to undo the damage that has been done, and some of the damage can’t ever be undone, but I believe we can come out of this stronger, I believe we can create the world so many of us want, as long as we vote, as long as we fight for progress, and as long as we lead with hope, light and love.

7 days left….

Please Vote. I know I will.