The Hopeful Romantics

Hugh Howey, writing on his blog:

Three weeks ago, I was at dinner with a mix of close friends and strangers. At some point, the conversation strayed into the minefield of politics and current events. The person to my left commented on how difficult it’s been to remain positive lately. It was easy to compile a list of the many reasons anyone had to be dour. With two young kids at home, she worried not just about their future, but how to inspire in the present. How to instill in them the hope that she remembered feeling at their age. The hope that only recently had begun to dim.

It’s a conversation I’ve had with myself many times, and one Shay and I have been having a lot recently. We are both happy, cheerful people. We tend to see the good in others. We also see the long arc of history bending toward the positive. But it’s hard to deny the backwards steps that occur along the way. As I type this, injustices are fanning out at a blistering pace. Hardworking people are being rounded up by the descendants of those who stole this land. Wars of conquest and aggression are taking the lives of hundreds of thousands. Bombs rain down on children because of the hubris and greed of men. Northers off Cape Hatteras. Hurricanes of violence and fear.