9230: sliding into the abyss (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: casey wolf <haitiw@yahoo.com>

i have to say that the constant repetition of
proclamations of hopelessness around haiti ever being
able to make its way out of a bad situation do not
seem geared toward anything constructive, though i
know they are not intended to cause more hopelessness.
 it seems to me that however long a situation has been
bad, and however bad in however many ways it is, there
is always hope and if there isn't, we should just
watch "all in the family" and forget about it.  if
there IS hope, then we do not actually inspire people
to action by saying the slide into the abyss is
inevitable, we smother (more or less effectively) the
hope and energy that still lives in the people who
want to avert that possible future.  

haiti is not separate from the rest of the world, and
its problems are the same as those facing the entire
planet.  the whole place is challenged by huge
problems and we need to make deep changes in our
thinking, in our beliefs, in our ways of being.  and
we can.  we have never been at this point in history
before, we have never had the experience we now have,
the tools we now have, or the situation that sobers us
into looking for abysses.  we have opportunities to
learn from each other, and from our own lives, as
never before.  we are bound to keep screwing up but
bit by bit we can make the changes we want.  please,
if you want to help your cause, speak in words of
hope, not words of hopelessness, no matter how awful
the stories you need to tell.  give yourself a chance
to believe in what you are fighting for, and to
inspire the rest of us to work shoulder to shoulder
with you.

casey

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