All Write, Already!

“Hope is the denial of reality. It is the carrot dangled before the draft horse to keep him plodding along in a vain attempt to reach it." -Margaret Weis (As Raistlin Majere in the Dragonlance Chronicles)

Hope is one of those words that doesn't carry any weight. At least not for me. I always get the general meaning people have when they say things like "Let's hope..." or "Be hopeful..." but it always seems as if it's the kind of word that's used when there is lack of sufficient evidence to believe that something good is going to happen. It's Faith's slightly more down-to-earth little sister.
Hope is a sound I make when I'm anxious or afraid. Some people speak of it with such fervor I wonder if it isn't something more tangible to them. The ironic thing is, these people - people who often call themselves "optimistic" - seem to me to be deeply cynical. And they say I'm dark, but honestly, I believe things are getting better. And I believe that based on facts.

If you don't believe me, look it up. The world is better today in every conceivable way than it ever has been. There is less hate, less hunger, less poverty, less violence, less injustice. People tend to romanticize the past, but in reality, the nature of the world is an emergent, sadistic, cruel game where everyone loses except for life itself. The perpetuation of the species at the expense of everything else. Just look up infant mortality rates for as recently as the early 1900's. You can still see it today on TV, or in your backyard.

But we're farther and farther removed from nature. And you may talk all the mystic garbage you want, but statistically speaking, the farther removed from our savage roots we become, the better off we are as a species. We refine the world and sanitize it in order to create order and fairness and balance. We got off to a rough start, and we flat-lined through the dark ages, but we never faltered. We continued to climb.

Really, look at the statistics. Any metric you want to use. The world is getting better and better every day. I'm not hopeful for the future. I have high expectations of the future that are grounded in fact. Hope is not required.

So next time someone paints a dark portrait of the present, or tells you to have hope for the future, tell them you don't need it, and neither do they.