I came across some writing today that gave me a frame for my New Year’s wish for myself. I am happy to share it.

To be hopeful in bad times is not to be hopelessly romantic. If we see only the worst, we lose the capacity to act, to do something good and worthwhile. If we only argue, we speak only to ourselves. If we are only afraid, we will lose hope and will. If we are only angry, we are blind. If we lose hope, we are lost.

If we remember those times and places – and there are too many to count – where people behave generously, compassionately, magnificently, then this gives us the energy to act and live our lives. It keeps alive the possibility that world can move in a different direction.

We can act right now, and if we do act, in however small a way, we need not wait for a grand utopian future, or for a revolution, says social activist and philosopher Howard Zinn.  We can commit our small acts of good. Our better angels will form a grand Army that will give rebirth to a compassionate world. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now, as we believe human beings should live, is in itself a marvelous victory.