reality check

from ddjango @ Corrente

You can hope all you want, but here's what's likely:

there will be a serious, perhaps nuclear attack on Iran in the near future

the middle-east/asian situation will dangerously deteriorate

global ecology will continue to disintegrate exponentially

the national and global financial and economic system will continue its move into meltdown

true power will further concentrate into fewer hands

technology's developmental pace will lessen the value of the human spirit and be used more to control humans than enhance our lives

standard of living and quality of life will noticeably deteriorate

the US government will deepen fascism and concentrate further on social control
. . . . .

Of necessity, I have abandoned hope that these events will not take place and these currents will weaken or reverse. I prefer sanity to hope. If for you, hope is all that is keeping you sane, you're standing on very shaky ground. I have not "lost" hope, by the way... I have voluntarily shunned it. I. Am. Free.

Free? Yes, free. The logic is simple: if (a) "freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose" and (b) I have nothing because all I had was hope and now I don't have that, (c) I'm free.

Here's the catch, however: freedom depends on personal responsibility. If I give up hope, all that's left is you and me. My choice is to be responsible for myself. But I am not being responsible for myself if I am being irresponsible where you are concerned. In spite of what Thatcher and Reagan said, we are a society, we humans.

I think in the coming months and years, we must reject hope, embrace reality, and simply help each other survive with as much gentility, dignity, and care as we can muster.