Why it's important to Not lose Hope

Hope. The light at the end of the tunnel. The better times. The dream that makes you smile when you wake up. Hope seems to be in low supply these days and it's understandable with the COVID19 pandemic putting some people's lives either on pause, fast forward or entirely ejected from the tape. But it's important to still have hope in exactly these types of times. Despite the blatant harm that people go through, the destruction of families, the absolute devouring of hope, you need to have some hope.

We need to learn what the previous generations have learned, and that is not to pretend we are brave and foolishly laugh in death's face, but to understand that being scared while the future is rushing at you is as natural as breathing. Every generation has had a way of taking that fear and making it into something else, hope. For the generations who were in WW1 and WW2, they hoped for the wars to be over. For the generations growing up in the times of SARS, Y2K, Ebola, and other diseases and travesties, they all hoped for the event to end. So now, while everyone is inside, find something that brings you hope. Make music, art, play video games, watch movies, do anything and everything that makes you happy and you will find that hope is welling up in your vulnerable hands making you strong enough to get past this. And hope.

Hope for a vaccine, hope for people to not be infected, hope that we all come together in the ways that matter most and make this global pandemic into nothing more but a sad moment in our history books. And if you have family that is infected, be there for them, take care of them, and hope that they will beat the disease. Right now, we are looking at millions of people infected and similar numbers of people dead but despite all this, we need to have some hope. Listen to your medical professionals and follow their advice, don't make dumb mistakes, and hold the ones you love dearly close.

When Hope cannot carry you, tenacity will. Times may come to be that you feel like nothing is worth it, but you must keep going. The mindset of "Just keep going" belongs to the world's best doctors, firefighters, boxers, soldiers, veternarians, the hard working common person.

And with the election going on and the uncertainty of the future, no one can safely say that they know what's going on. Watching Nevada with such an anxious stare has become one of my most frequent but least-loved habits in the past few days. It is very easy, exceptionally so to feel scared or angry and that's okay. It's okay to worry about the future. It's natural to want the riots, injustice, and everyone is so very angry to stop. And one day, I hope it will.

And if you are reading this from the future, and COVID19, the riots have come to a stop, and you want some hope, I want you to take a deep look into the mirror, and know that so far you have made it. You have made it past 2020's gauntlet of misery, and for that I commend you. You and I won't ever know each other past these words that you're reading but you are my idea of hope. You, the person reading this looking for any idea of how to make things seem better than they actually are, you are my idea of hope. And one day, I hope to be as lovely as you are. I hope to be as tenacious as you are. I hope. And you should too.