My son and daughter in law had a baby on Tuesday.
In the midst of a pandemic, the midst of an election, in the middle of Tennessee — they had a baby boy — and they both voted.
And they are not afraid of raising a boy in today’s world. They are overjoyed. I want to point out that they have white privilege, which makes it easier to feel that joy. But still.
They are not worried about raising a boy in this world. They are not worried he will be bullied or left out or left out or have problems with his masculinity. They are not worried girls will get ahead of them. They are going to raise him with love, and as a human, and give him plenty of coping skills. And create in him the ability to change with a rapidly changing world. And not only that — give him the tools to help make the world a better place by talking to their son about privilege and gender and the ways abuse happen.
that is it. That is the plan.
And that got me thinking about hope.
Hope.
To me, hope is only valuable when it is accompanied by action.
Seth Godin had a post today called “The Successful Scientist”.
The scientific method is the most powerful invention humans have ever created. Here it is in a nutshell: Know the rules, know what came before you. Understand the thinking behind the rules. Do tests others haven’t thought of. Be ok with being wrong. Publish results so other people can learn what you learn. Explain it clearly so it is useful — until something more useful comes along.
Seth Godin ends with: “if you seek to lead or to change minds, if you’re working for better, then you’re a scientist.”
Science and hope co-exist because scientists are hoping they will learn something useful. And you, as an individual, can take action based on the learning of countless people who have come before you.
Hope and science actually coexist beautifully. Science lets you see how to change the course (of a disease), how to solve its mysteries, how to prevent harm, how to save lives. Enter, hope. And the only thing I’ll say about the election is that
Joe Biden is the only candidate running for President that understands this. (It’s the only thing I’ll say about the election, but I’m sure the call will veer in that direction one way or another).
When I am feeling overwhelmed, or frantic or even hopeless… I make a very simple plan. I simply connect with someone I love. That’s it. That is the plan. I connect with someone. I learn how they are doing, and we share a connection.
Hope accompanied by action is the only thing that makes sense in this wild roller coaster of a world.
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Photo courtesy of the author.