Finding Hope in the Devastation of the World

The world seems so messed up. There are so many problems out there that I often feel like I cannot do anything at all. I give up and want to go and hide. There's this distinction we put on the "public" world vs. the "private" world. The public world includes the corrupt politicians that decide to sit by while the environment is destroyed or prorogue government, the natural disasters like Haiti and the helplessness we feel while we try and figure out some way to make their lives better, the poverty that kills thousands every day. It's all a bit overwhelming, and it's so easy to lose hope.

And I was thinking the other day, whenever I feel down about the world, like I just can't do anything, I go to my family, to my friends, to the people closest to me. And I wondered why. Some might say it's because it seems easier. I say it's because we're trying to renew our hope. Because maybe the answers to those problems aren't in the huge policies or "development projects" out there, but in the people we meet everyday. Change comes through a dedicated group of individuals. It's in the people around us that we can find hope that maybe the world isn't so bad. There is still love, there is still compassion, there is still sincerity. And maybe that's why going to our "private" world is so much easier. Because it's in the individuals around us that we can see the things that give us the hope we need. In those people, we see that the world isn't so bad. They inspire us, uplift us, and build us into the change-makers that the world needs to get rid of the problems that seem to big.