to be hopeful

To be hopeful in bad times
is not just foolishly romantic.
It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty,
but also of
​compassion,
sacrifice,
courage,
kindness.
What we choose to emphasize
in this complex history will determine our lives.
If we see only the worst, it destroys
our capacity to do something.
If we remember those times and places--
and there are so many--
where people have behaved
magnificently,
this gives us the energy to act,
and at least the possibility
of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act,
in however small a way,
we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future.
The future is an infinite succession of presents,
and to live now
as we think human beings should live,
in defiance
of all that is bad around us,
is itself a marvelous
victory.
~Howard Zinn