Been spending the past several years sporadically, not at all consistently, checking in on the news in the misguided hope that maybe something good had happened. A reason to have hope again. Something good for the working class, or good for defeating corruption, or good for derailing the authoritarian track many countries are headed down, or good to the massive schism polarizing the political landscape, or good for the health of the planet, or good for the marginalized communities, or good for the stability of the world.
Years now, and it's almost never anything good. It's just always a continuation or elevation of all the bad. Yes, news is designed to work this way, but what tangibly good things have happened that will benefit the majority of the population in a way that compares to the other stories we hear?
And then just as it starts to look like the pandemic is finally starting to wane, war.
Economic concerns aside, of which the concerns are massive in an already weakened state, and undoubtedly a selfishly framed thought, we as a workforce seeking better working/living conditions are no doubt going to move down several pages on the fictional lists in the hands of the powers that be. And rightly so. People are dying in an invasion on their own land.
Now we're going to be asked to sacrifice even more, after sacrificing so much for the past couple years. And how can we not? Our concerns are right, just, and the time to address them is now, but they pale in comparison to the reality some of our fellow humans are experiencing.
This isn't the straw about to break the camel's back. This is the massive pile of straw sitting on what once was the camel that died of a broken spine, now hidden underneath, rotting.
Honestly, should we even have any optimism at this point?
How can we?