The Power of Hope

If I were a list maker, and I'm not, there would be more things to worry about than I've ever worried about before: Israel and Gaza, the financial crisis, unemployment, the disintegration of the tax base for local government, homelessness, a health care system that just doesn't work even for those with insurance, Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Somalia, Russia cutting off natural gas to all of Europe, the collapse of portions of the progressive philanthropic community, Guanatanamo Bay, renditioning, torture, tainted food imported from other countries, and tainted food processed here in cruel and inhuman conditions like those in the Agriprocessor Plant in Postville, Iowa.

Oh, right, I said I don't make lists, and I seem to be making them.

Maybe it's that I am in San Diego and looking out over the marina, or maybe it's because no one else is panicking that I'm not panicking either.

This is the power of hope.

Barack Obama will surely disappoint me and many others, because he wants to be a great president and in order to do that he will have to appeal to the largest possible portion of America and the world that he can.

That is why people voted for him. He has that intention to bring people together, like he did at the White House today, at the luncheon with all of the living presidents.

I also know that the worst hasn't happened yet. We haven't hit bottom yet.

The power of hope is amazing me and so many other people I meet. At least we have hope.