A few weeks ago, in the morning, between sleeping and
waking, the word ‘Lingering’ lingered for a few moments before my eyes,
flashing pale blue as if written in neon. Whether it was the last flicker of a
dream or an isolated image, I cannot tell. And as I lingered in slumber, my
mind reached out, as minds do in such moments, for the meaning it had tried to
form. On waking a few moments later, the first images that passed through my
mind were the soft rustling of leaves on treetops in the Spring breeze; then,
of the way the slow timing of nature is captured in art and film and, finally,
it dawned on me that to linger, in general, was in the current Zeitgeist.
An inescapable feeling gripped me that we have, as a species, if not lost, then at least misplaced the thrust and desire for progress, for betterment as a species and civilization. Human civilization seems to no longer be optimistically designing the road it wants to travel, unsure of how to apply technological progress to social change, and bewildered by the environmental constraints on growth. Those who think of this at all usually fall back on tired world-views charged with nostalgic clichés and identities: on the selfish borders of the nation, the petty victim-blaming of neo-liberalism, or the failed ideals of revolution. Others, uninspired by mankind, fall back on the unquestioned authority of religious text to guide their lives. It is a dull species that faces its future thus.
Today, however, I woke up with a spark of hope. I know there is another way. There is something, however little, that I can do today. I can walk up to a ballot box and choose to choose. It is my vote, and with it, it is my responsibility. And it does not end today – it is my responsibility, as a European, to continue to fight for a better future every day. To get involved, to question what must be questioned, to argue and to listen, to continuously participate in a society that must will itself to do better and to be better, if it does not wish to in the long run either wither away or implode.
An inescapable feeling gripped me that we have, as a species, if not lost, then at least misplaced the thrust and desire for progress, for betterment as a species and civilization. Human civilization seems to no longer be optimistically designing the road it wants to travel, unsure of how to apply technological progress to social change, and bewildered by the environmental constraints on growth. Those who think of this at all usually fall back on tired world-views charged with nostalgic clichés and identities: on the selfish borders of the nation, the petty victim-blaming of neo-liberalism, or the failed ideals of revolution. Others, uninspired by mankind, fall back on the unquestioned authority of religious text to guide their lives. It is a dull species that faces its future thus.
Today, however, I woke up with a spark of hope. I know there is another way. There is something, however little, that I can do today. I can walk up to a ballot box and choose to choose. It is my vote, and with it, it is my responsibility. And it does not end today – it is my responsibility, as a European, to continue to fight for a better future every day. To get involved, to question what must be questioned, to argue and to listen, to continuously participate in a society that must will itself to do better and to be better, if it does not wish to in the long run either wither away or implode.
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