“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
~ Howard Zinn *
Bryn: I love this quote. I connect with the practice of looking for needs met and how it gives me more resilience and capacity to live the values I want to see in the world. Does that resonate with you?
* Howard Zinn was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist intellectual, and World War II veteran well-known for his best-selling book, “A People's History of the United States.”
