Hope can be intoxicating. Reality is the antidote. Mixed up emotions cascade, carom, careen, Ricocheting from vibrant visions of dreamt futures realized Echoing in dark wells of defeat. As the returns return hope dwindles, flickers, and fades away. It’s hard to look at US and not recoil. “That’s not who we are!” We hear it everywhere, as a response to the worst in our nature. We all say it. We all mean it. But… up here The view from up here on the objective plane exposes US. This is who we are, in fact, after fact, after fact. The proud citadel…shamed. The shining city on a hill…dimmed The beacon of freedom…sputtering before the world. We are all in this together. Let’s face it. It walks like a duck. Quack, quack! We are the duck…whether we like it or not. The big WE, who I am a part of, made that choice. Embracing the tyrant. Arms not meant for hugging, Words unfit for speaking, Leaders not looked up to, Embarrassment, shame, disrespect. They flash by, but I resist them. I choose to HOPE. I will resist the slow slippage, down into the crevasse of negativity. That will not sooth my inner wounds. I WILL be unapologetically optimistic. I WILL be stubbornly positive in how I view my world. I will continue to see beauty in my fellow humans I will bask in love shared with the world. Joy prevails. Love heals.
Michael Van Devender
This article appears in Community Connection.