Here's an Idea!
Hope - Where to find it?
Ya never know what’s gonna turn on that elusive lightbulb we call an Idea.
And yet, here’s one languishing in a pleasant exchange with a new Subscriber and fellow Substacker…
I’m sure glad I bumbled into finding this Substack a couple of weeks ago…
Great to have you! And thanks for your excellent contributions.
Thanks, nice to be aboard. I hope we’re not sinking!
I share your hope! Other than the permanently suicidal, who could wish otherwise? OTOH, when searching for facts upon which to base such hope, I'm only finding politicians and myopic dreamers. How about you?
While waiting for Frank’s reply, up pops the idea for this piece: How about YOU? Certainly, you must have Hope for the future, any future; yours, your loved ones, the economy, peace, America, the World – maybe you’d settle for a Trump Landslide Victory come November.
So, help me out here. If you have such Hope, what facts have you found to support it? I’m all eyes! Seriously.
It would be easy to go All Snark, shoot down the most likely answers up front, and see if anyone shows up with that hat and rabbit.
For my part, reading as voraciously as life’s obligations permit, all I’m finding are Warning Signs.
Every aspect of the Economy is teetering on the brink of a collapse of never-before-seen proportions; 2008 will look like a weekend Monopoly game come to life. Businesses are shuttering. Real estate markets are dead in the water. Wages, jobs, inflation, and banks are in trouble. Only the Wall Street Casino is hot.
Internationally, credible news sources claim we have never ever been this close to nuclear war. Not even Cuba, 1962. The Neocons and NeoMorons running governments around the world are sufficiently deranged to be unable to distinguish real blood, death, and carnage from Call of Duty or other wildly popular Blood ‘N Guts video games.
How about Society? Pick something! Human Behavior has always been a target-rich environment for Gloom, encapsulated in the ubiquitous blurt from every generation: “When I was your age…!”
Gen Z. Gen X. ‘Tweeners. Millenials. Boomers. All have something to blame on the other.
Elvis Presley’s hips and sideburns were supposed to bring on Armageddon. When that disappointed, it was those long-haired mopheads from England. Maybe Rock ’N Roll, wasn’t it, after all! Hey! Maybe it’s Rap!
But I digress…
Let’s hear (read) it. Where and what have you found that gives you the Hope we’re not “sinking”? All answers wanted. You may be the one who brings Hope to Frank, me, and the rest of our little gang of misfits.
Check out the Comments Section for all Hoped For responses!
BW
Thanks for reading this far. That alone brings me, Hope! At least the hope of you being here for another scribble coming ASAP. Don’t miss these Pyrite Opportunities by popping the Subscription button. Beyond hope, you’ll have the guarantee of getting the next one!
I’m all into snark, which I believe directed leftward is the best way to mock what’s happening in America. In the meantime, I think I’ll visit the grandkid and her parents this weekend!
Hope... In the 1970s when I was in my twenties raising a young family in Seattle, I had hope. In the 80s that started with the divorce and the kids gone, but for four days a month with me...I still had hope.
In my 40s, with my middle-age crisis and living with a 26 year old Playboy bunny... I had hope.
In my fifties in California and a new wife, I had hope.
In my sixties in the 2010s I retired and things were okay kind of.
At seventy the wheels fell off, everything turned to shit with the Covid Crap and...
I lost hope.
I realize now that I entered this Tunnel of Doom back in August of 1971 when Nixon closed the gold window and tried to draft lottery my ass to fight in Vietnam. I've been avoiding land mines and mortar shells ever since. Four years ago, the shells found their target.
Hope isn't for old cripples like me.