There is a lot of hopelessness in America right now, just one year after the most hopeful time I can remember. So much has happened (or not happened, depending on your viewpoint.)

We have gone from the tears of joy at the President's election, to tears of sadness as we realize how little one person, even a president, can accomplish in Washington. We were naive about how long change would take, how much resistance to it there would be.

There is so much to be depressed about. The stimulus package has not worked as well as we had hoped it would. The Wall St. big wigs have learned from the financial crisis that "too big to fail" means they have a green light to do whatever the hell they want, rather than an obligation to conduct their businesses in a responsible fashion. More people are suffering from the lack of health care. More, including many of our own, have found themselves out of work - the unemployment rate the highest it has been in over 25 years. We've been asked to swallow the fact there will likely be no prosecutions for the deplorable, and yes, illegal behavior of the prior administration as it relates to torture. We are still involved in two wars, and having difficulty figuring out how to get out of them, while day after day more of our babies die over there with no clear goal in mind. The programs established to aid people in keeping their homes have been largely ignored by the financial institutions WE bailed out. We've watched in horror as the very people who CAUSED the financial crisis have been left to oversee the industry. Gays are still being kicked out of the military and unable to wed. The lobbyists appear to own the country lock stock and barrel. We are subjected to a daily barrage of the selfishness of the privileged class, grabbing more and more of the pie, without regard for those who have not even a sliver.

If you haven't slit your wrists yet,

 
 

I was stepping away on the versa climber yesterday, when a song came on that I hadn't heard in a long time..."Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield. (Lyrics here for those who can't download youtube.) I had been thinking depressing thoughts...many of the things I just mentioned.  Bemoaning in my mind how much things suck, and succumbing to the idea that there is nothing we can do about it. It is a very pretty song. Natasha has a rather haunting voice. But, it is not usually a song I exercise to, much too mellow, and I was about to click onto a bouncier tune when I heard the words...

Live your life with arms wide open. Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten.

I listened to the song again. And again. And again. In no time my mind had gone from thinking depressing thoughts to thinking that the very idea of giving in to the forces of evil and greed was unthinkable.

Just because things are the way they are does not mean that is the way they need to stay.  However slowly it may happen, we are the authors of our own lives, AND we are the authors of our country's life, as well.

Where is it written that the 20% of people who self identify as Republicans get to decide for all of us what course our country takes?  Not in my book. Where is it written that they get to determine that I am going to feel helpless?  Not in my book. Where is it written that the "have mores"  get to flourish while the "have littles" suffer?  Not in MY book!

My earth based-world is a pretty great place. If I want to, I can ignore the rest of the world. I can live my cushy little life away from the horrors that others are subjected to every day of their lives. I can turn off the t.v., stay away from TPM and pretend that none of it exists. But I can't. For some reason, at my ripe old age, I need to be aware. I need to be part of the solution. I'll never be one of the activists that you see on t.v., or the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize...but I am determined to make a small difference in my small corner of the world.

I don't know how my story will end. But "the party of the insensitive" will not write it for me.