I’ll admit it: I have a daily chuckle at websites like F-My Life. There’s the Schadenfreude aspect to it that seems almost built into us. We rubberneck at wrecks on the highway, point fingers and snicker to ourselves and friends at people on the beach. The internet has given us an amazing medium to share, communicate, and flatten our approach to life and business, but it too has its own, built in function to take perverse delight in the misfortune of others, with viral videos of our rawest moments, or awful American Idol contestants warbling not like a cat on a hot tin roof, but a cat being crushed by a hot tin roof.
And so, with this all hitting us all the time, it’s very easy to become cynical, jaded, or simply laugh along with the leering masses. Even America’s most trusted newsmen are now the ones simply poking fun at current events and politicos (alright, some of them deserve it).
I’ll not even go so far as to say that this is all wrong. Sometimes that careful approach, in which we look harder and laugh harder at people and situations, can be beneficial. I’d argue that we can learn lessons from that misfortune that we celebrate; we become a better whole because of that, knowing a little bit more right from a little bit more wrong. And, as a comedian who has said more than his fair share of awful things (or more simply, told awful jokes), I will fight always for the punchline - there’s a healthy effect on laughing at even the most tragic of events. Coping is that much easier with a raunchy larf.
But, with all that said, if you’re still reading, let’s do more to look for hope in life. Even for just a few minutes a day, let’s all sit down and think about what does (and what can) make the world that much more special a place. Slowly, a few do-gooders are putting Web 2.0 to the test and egging on the rest of us to do better. The people at mobil33t have created the DoGood iPhone app, asking its users to perform one act of random kindness per day. I look forward every day to the new updates to Gives Me Hope - “like FML but for optimists”. I often sit next to my computer and cry the most beautiful tears in the most beautiful joy and praise of humanity. Here is an example of a GMH:
“My brother has Down Syndrome and doesn’t speak very well. This week while we were down the beach he tried to learn how to skim board.He would try and ask the other boys how they did it and they would laugh at him and walk away. The last day 4 teenage boys spent hours with him teaching him. They were so patient. He wouldn’t stop smiling :)They GMH.”
There is an emotional exhilaration in the idea of Hope. We all watched as President Obama campaigned on this idea last year - that even if we’re not doing that poorly, we can still do better. This is beyond powerful.
I often sit up at night thinking about the amazing things that humanity has accomplished. For every war we’ve ever waged, or genocide committed, or lie we’ve ever told, we’ve done something absolutely astounding. Human beings - nothing but flesh and electricity, mind you - built the Great Pyramids, the World Trade Center. We have walked on the moon, orbited the earth, created moving images that can be transmitted via flickers of light. We have guaranteed most of our children few education, eradicated disease and fought pestilence. For every dream and idea we’ve ever had, we’ve accomplished something in its honor. Every time you step on an airplane, you experience that absolute magic that is the human mind in motion. Think about it - thousands of pounds of steel and aluminum - flying at speeds of hundreds of miles per hour, circling the globe. You can’t tell me that there isn’t magic in that.
And so I’m proposing, that even with all that Schadenfreude out there (that, no, we shouldn’t ignore, it can be fun), we should take time out of every day to look for hope in our lives. Let’s all perform acts of kindness, to strangers and our friends, with the hope that they pass it on. It’s easy to think of this as just a mere Pay It Forward, let’s all cry because Helen Hunt is in love with Kevin Spacey and the little kid will probably die, event - but it should be more than that. We can make it more than that. I promise you, yes, we can.
Buy your morning coffee, than purchase the drink for the person behind you. They may just decide to purchase the next person in line’s drink. You may even make a friend! Put a thank-you note in your mail box for your letter carrier; it’s hard to find dedication in the work-force like that shown by the USPS. Write notes on your paper money asking people to donate some part of that dollar to a certain charity, or simply telling them that they are beautiful. Don’t always pass the homeless on the street - talk to them, you might be surprised what you’ll learn (I have personal experience with this that I can blog about later, a homeless man named Mike who lived in Bethesda who I now think about daily, hoping and praying for his safety). Simply put, do something to make this little world of ours that much nicer. Your heart will pound, but it will be good.
We can do better. We’re working for it, I know. Our efforts are concerted and viable - but who says we can’t do more?
