Giving Up Hope.

" These Days, I'm more likely to feel hopeless than sad, more likely to feel as if nothing really makes a difference, as if our whole human civilization is unraviling and there is nothing I or anyone can do about it. It's different from sadness, and perhaps it needs a different, more complex set of ideas for coping with it:
Give up hope. That's right, get off the hope/despair roller coaster and realize once and for all: It's hopeless! You should have known when a U.S presidential candidate won an election on a platform of mere hope that it was time to give up. Embrace hopelessness! It's OK! It makes sense. But we can,should, and must still be intentional, responsible, and joyful."
  
This is an excerpt from Dave Pollard's article in the UTNE Reader. The first part was particularly striking, I could relate to the endless feelings of burden I often feel for the world. There are abductions, sex slaves, women working for 16 cents a day to make one 100 dollar pair of jeans, mothers dying, children dying, resources depleting, the continuation of and ever increasing capitalistic take over of everything good, stealing, suicide, homicide, still borns, war, depression. There is so much to fix, it overwhelms me, all I want to do is fix it.

By giving up hope, Pollard is saying to let go of the burden, but not to loose intention, to remain passionate and driven. To keep intention and action in your heart, knowing well, that you did everything you could to do your part, regardless of the seemingly small and sometimes non-exsistent impacts. In short, don't beat your self up, you are doing all you can. Look at the little joys, and allow them to bring you joy. The passing smile, your mom's hugs, a ride to the airport by your boss, literature, knowledge-as sad as it can be sometimes, sleep, sun, splashing in rain puddles, that first deep breath after a beautiful sleep, dreams, walking, butterfly kisses, real kisses, TREES, tall people, family calls, drinking water.

My piece of randomness for the day.