{"id":926,"date":"2006-07-27T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-27T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/astrologicalmusings\/2006\/07\/on-being-hopeful-in-bad-times.html"},"modified":"2006-07-27T15:39:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-27T15:39:00","slug":"on-being-hopeful-in-bad-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2006\/07\/on-being-hopeful-in-bad-times.html","title":{"rendered":"On being hopeful in bad times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Somebody emailed this to me and I wanted to share it:<\/span><\/p>\n

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.<\/p>\n

It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.<\/p>\n

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives.<\/p>\n

If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places – and there are so many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.<\/p>\n

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.<\/p>\n

<\/span>–Howard Zinn
(You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A personal history of our times, p. 208)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

photo by Tony Howell<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Somebody emailed this to me and I wanted to share it: To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime"],"yoast_head":"\nOn being hopeful in bad times - Astrological Musings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2006\/07\/on-being-hopeful-in-bad-times.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On being hopeful in bad times - Astrological Musings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Somebody emailed this to me and I wanted to share it: To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. 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