18 February 2011

Please - Believe in Progress

It's 2 am.  I'm tired. I'm not clear headed. I'm running my mouth.

Yesterday at Spy Hop we had a guest speaker come and do a workshop.  It was kinda boring.  She talked about bullying, racism, privileges, sexism - stuff like that.  And then she was like "What can we do to fix these problems in our society?" And one kid was all "People have always taken advantage of each other, and have always put each other down, and some people will always act like they're better than others. There's not much you can do." And it's true, social problems will always exist.  But honestly man, what kind of an attitude is that? Did slavery end because people sat around and did nothing? No, man.

Edgar Allen Poe said  “I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.”

Damn you Edgar Allen Poe.  My response to that is to re-use the point about slavery.  Do you think emancipated slaves were more happy? Hell yes.

Unfortunately Poe's quote still grips me.

Poe should've talked to Conan O Brien.  I've seen this quote of his around the web, and I like it a lot.  "All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard, and you’re kind, amazing things will happen."

It's easy for me to be cynical, but I'm trying not to be.  So to my self I make a plea.  Please: Believe in progress, in evolution.  Have hope.  Listen to Bob Marley.  Cheer up, mate.




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