The Effects of Stories and Idealization on Hope

In Blockadia: The New Climate Warriors, Naomi Klein discusses positive stories of resistance. Even though mining and fossil fuel companies are extracting more and pushing into even more territory, this increase in risky methods is also fueling more backlash. Many of the stories we hear today are focused on the extreme extraction -- or otherwise harmful activities -- that industries are taking part in. However, we often don’t hear the stories of resistance or other positive stories that combat these stories of degradation. This lack of sharing positive stories can lead us to fall into a pit of despair. If we do not hear these positive stories, then we can fall into the trap of believing that “no one cares” or “nobody is doing anything about this” and resign ourselves to the false belief that “nothing will ever change”. We can become cynical about both the world we live in and the people in it, without realizing that change is occurring every day. Klein, with her positive stories of resistance and a “continent-wide” and even “global movement”, tries to combat this pure cynicism and sense of powerlessness. Bringing more attention to these stories of change that are overlooked -- whether it be activism or one person at a time realizing the horrible consequences of an industry's activities -- can bring us more hope by showing the change and resistance that occurs much more often than the dominant discussions of awful stories would lead us to believe.

In the article "The Most Important Question of Your Life", Mark Manson discusses how many times people want the “good things” in life without recognizing the work these things require. Just as it is important to draw more attention to the positive stories that occur today, it is also important to acknowledge that these positive stories often had lot of work put into them to make happen; they did not just appear out of thin air. In terms of hope, the amount of work people are putting in around the world to make change happen is just as hopeful as any “result”. Manson also discusses how we have an idealized view of “happiness” that ignores both the complexity of emotions and struggles we will face in our lives. Often times, we are told to “find our happiness”, with some dream of an end result where we finally have the perfect life. This type of thinking can also be attached to the world as a whole with another sort of dream that it will become a “utopia”. Imaging that there will suddenly be a “perfect life” or “utopia” will only be detrimental to hope, as it will create disappointment when these idealized versions of life and the world do not occur. Instead, hope can be found not in the perfect, but in working for change and the better -- which can having a variety of meanings for different people.

One thing I disagreed with in the "Most Important Question of Your Life" was Manson’s statement that “this is the most simple and basic component of life: our struggles determine our successes”. While Manson does acknowledge that he is not simply calling for “willpower”, this type of statement does fail to discuss that some people in life are going to have to work far harder for their “rewards” or “successes” than other people might have to. “Success” can happen much faster for those that may already have a more privileged access to it. There are such a variety of “struggles” and “pains” in the world that occur (many without any sort of “willingness” or “want”), that they cannot always be said to lead to “successes” either. Just as it is important not to idealize happiness, it is also important not to idealize “struggle”. For some, a better and more hopeful world may mean alleviating some of the pain and struggle that occurs.