Or maybe those that have Hope have been dodging the plethora of pollsters that barrage us throughout each election cycle knowing our voice will be heard with our votes. Being rock sure that hope is indeed the way and voting accordingly. I am one such citizen. 🙏🏻✨
A medical study done with rats had the rats swimming in beakers of water. They each swam to exhaustion at about 60 minutes and started to sink, on the brink of giving up and drowning. Each rat was removed from the water and given 10 minutes to rest before being placed back into the water. The theory was that the rats would swim 30 minutes more before giving up. The study was planned to look at muscle fatigue but instead it became a study in HOPE as those rats were given hope and able to swim beyond anyones expectations for the next 24 hours. Hope is an amazing force and should never be underestimated.
Eighty two years ago, Charlie Chaplin ended his satire "The Great Dictator" (in which a shoe maker gets mistaken for a Hitler-like dictator) with this stirring speech:
"To those who can hear me, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the hate of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people, will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish."
Well, gentlemen, I guess you’ll have to call this little, old broad naive. And a Pollyanna. Because my hope for better days will not be diminished in this cynical age. Thanks for reminding me of the power of hope. 💜
Thank you for taking the time to remind us how important hope is, not only in the political realm, but in all phases of life. Beautifully said. I will share it with some friends.
I hope the people of this country have enough common sense to see that the Republicans party of which numerous guilty pleas and convictions have been obtained is the wrong party to lead this nation. Are we going to reward the very people who attacked the capitol with a victory for money?
Are we going to give our country over to Religious, bigot's. or are we going to get out in force,
and defeat this Anti-American movement in its tracks.
We as Americans must decide between good and evil.
Vote Blue and put these traitors in their proper place on the outside looking in.
Thank you, Dan, for reminding us that hope somply takes courage, in the face of its adversary; greed, pride, jealousy, short sightedness and dishonesty!
People often assign “trend” to what is mostly short term deviations, pushback, or temporary recoil. Like the stock markets and climate change, one can stress out over daily and weekly events that go up, then down, good then bad then good then bad. But if you step back and multiple years or decades it’s becomes obvious that the stock market will go up modestly over time, that climate change is real regardless yesterday’s weather, and the world is gradually improving overall but the battles are not over.
Your comment has nothing to do with my observations on the difference between short term activities that can appear to be counter to the actual long term trends. For example, society has been trending towards improving tolerance for the past 100 years even in the face of pockets of resurgent intolerance. As a Star Trek fan, I recall that the pilot episode of 1960s was rejected for having a woman as second in command and an episode with an interracial kiss made television history. Now new Star Trek episodes have women senior leadership and various LGBT crew members. 100 years ago women couldn’t vote, but it has taken the withdrawal of abortion rights to motivate young women to take advantage of their hard won right to vote.
I didn’t mention bank accounts or an improving environment.
Stock markets are bank accounts. Climate change is the environment. Social attitude fluctuations are not comparable to environmental fluctuations. Mother Nature can't remediate environmental damage caused by humans.
Dan Rather calls out climate change deniers in this and other essays. He speaks for me. What is your purpose in trying to minimize climate change in this forum?
As the midterm elections draw near, we are being unfortunately reminded that lies and conspiracy theories and cultism spread virulently and voraciously, while truth and reality advance slowly, always struggling to gain traction and usually having to cite numerous sources of validity to be accepted, yet they can be negated with a single sound bite of faulty contradiction.
It is reminiscent of our justice system. It takes only minutes or less to commit a crime, the details of which are reported as excitedly as possible, but then the accused sits in jail or is released on bail for months and months before their trial begins, by which time most of the general public has completely forgotten about them and their crime(s).
In this case, truth may become moot because the election will have long been completed by the time the truth is revealed and even longer before the judgement, if any, is rendered. It will unfortunately not surprise me that the crimes of Donald Trump will not be called into reckoning before the swearing in of our next president in 2025. If that next president is a Republican, then I fear that Donald Trump will receive a blanket pardon for previous crimes (even if that president is Trump himself).
Our democracy is in greater peril than most are aware or are willing to believe.
Or maybe those that have Hope have been dodging the plethora of pollsters that barrage us throughout each election cycle knowing our voice will be heard with our votes. Being rock sure that hope is indeed the way and voting accordingly. I am one such citizen. 🙏🏻✨
I'll never stop hoping (and voting), but I am exhausted. The lies, bigotry and hatred disgusts and overwhelms. It is exhausting.
Thank you Mr. Rather for being our beacon of hope
A medical study done with rats had the rats swimming in beakers of water. They each swam to exhaustion at about 60 minutes and started to sink, on the brink of giving up and drowning. Each rat was removed from the water and given 10 minutes to rest before being placed back into the water. The theory was that the rats would swim 30 minutes more before giving up. The study was planned to look at muscle fatigue but instead it became a study in HOPE as those rats were given hope and able to swim beyond anyones expectations for the next 24 hours. Hope is an amazing force and should never be underestimated.
Thanks! Excellent!
I am astounded that the list of woes did not mention Roe’s being overturned at all. Good grief!
Regardless of the outcome of these elections (and 2024), we will still have a Congress that does not fulfill its obligations.
What a critically important message this is for today! We must keep hope alive! Thanks for the reminder.
Eighty two years ago, Charlie Chaplin ended his satire "The Great Dictator" (in which a shoe maker gets mistaken for a Hitler-like dictator) with this stirring speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8HdOHrc3OQ
It's all good, but this part:
"To those who can hear me, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the hate of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people, will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish."
Thank you, Dan. Yes, we need to actively be participating by volunteering in anyway we can up until the last minute!
Well, gentlemen, I guess you’ll have to call this little, old broad naive. And a Pollyanna. Because my hope for better days will not be diminished in this cynical age. Thanks for reminding me of the power of hope. 💜
Thank you for taking the time to remind us how important hope is, not only in the political realm, but in all phases of life. Beautifully said. I will share it with some friends.
Best, Judith Raunig-Graham
I hope the people of this country have enough common sense to see that the Republicans party of which numerous guilty pleas and convictions have been obtained is the wrong party to lead this nation. Are we going to reward the very people who attacked the capitol with a victory for money?
Are we going to give our country over to Religious, bigot's. or are we going to get out in force,
and defeat this Anti-American movement in its tracks.
We as Americans must decide between good and evil.
Vote Blue and put these traitors in their proper place on the outside looking in.
Thank you, Dan, for reminding us that hope somply takes courage, in the face of its adversary; greed, pride, jealousy, short sightedness and dishonesty!
People often assign “trend” to what is mostly short term deviations, pushback, or temporary recoil. Like the stock markets and climate change, one can stress out over daily and weekly events that go up, then down, good then bad then good then bad. But if you step back and multiple years or decades it’s becomes obvious that the stock market will go up modestly over time, that climate change is real regardless yesterday’s weather, and the world is gradually improving overall but the battles are not over.
Bank account fluctuations are not comparable to environmental fluctuations. The environment is not improving.
Your comment has nothing to do with my observations on the difference between short term activities that can appear to be counter to the actual long term trends. For example, society has been trending towards improving tolerance for the past 100 years even in the face of pockets of resurgent intolerance. As a Star Trek fan, I recall that the pilot episode of 1960s was rejected for having a woman as second in command and an episode with an interracial kiss made television history. Now new Star Trek episodes have women senior leadership and various LGBT crew members. 100 years ago women couldn’t vote, but it has taken the withdrawal of abortion rights to motivate young women to take advantage of their hard won right to vote.
I didn’t mention bank accounts or an improving environment.
Stock markets are bank accounts. Climate change is the environment. Social attitude fluctuations are not comparable to environmental fluctuations. Mother Nature can't remediate environmental damage caused by humans.
OK. You don’t know anything about statistical data or economics or environmental issues or how to read. So your comments are irrelevant.
Dan Rather calls out climate change deniers in this and other essays. He speaks for me. What is your purpose in trying to minimize climate change in this forum?
As the midterm elections draw near, we are being unfortunately reminded that lies and conspiracy theories and cultism spread virulently and voraciously, while truth and reality advance slowly, always struggling to gain traction and usually having to cite numerous sources of validity to be accepted, yet they can be negated with a single sound bite of faulty contradiction.
It is reminiscent of our justice system. It takes only minutes or less to commit a crime, the details of which are reported as excitedly as possible, but then the accused sits in jail or is released on bail for months and months before their trial begins, by which time most of the general public has completely forgotten about them and their crime(s).
In this case, truth may become moot because the election will have long been completed by the time the truth is revealed and even longer before the judgement, if any, is rendered. It will unfortunately not surprise me that the crimes of Donald Trump will not be called into reckoning before the swearing in of our next president in 2025. If that next president is a Republican, then I fear that Donald Trump will receive a blanket pardon for previous crimes (even if that president is Trump himself).
Our democracy is in greater peril than most are aware or are willing to believe.