I need help keeping hope

[windy252]

"And you wonder why your father was so resigned/Now you don't wonder anymore."-Ben Fold's "The Ascent of Stan. It's getting very difficult to keep hope lately with elections that appear to be stolen here and in Mexico and Canada slowly headed down our path. To an extent, I feel like I'm almost in the acceptance stage of a friend who's died, only it's what our country (U.S.) was founded on that has died. I look to this forum for hope mainly because it felt right to post this here.

[NMDemDist2]

1. oh windy!

it is the death throes of the patriarchal mindset

visualize peace, keep the faith and hang in there. it does look very ugly right now but is the dying thrashing of an old mindset that soon will be past

:hug:

[Popol Vuh]

2. AZDemDist7

You said it the way I too see it. :)

Windy, I myself get depressed and disgusted about this too. What keeps me calm and focused about it is this: I look at what they (the powers at be) are doing as the equivalent of building a house of cards.

They construct this proverbial house of cards in order to maintain the status-quo, which is the rich blue bloods on top by exploiting those who actually create all this wealth -- us the working class.

But in order to maintain this status-quo, it is unavoidably necessary to construct this house of cards; and the stink of it has gotten so bad, that they are now having to take desperate measures such as rigging elections. In my opinion, these desperate measures represent the death throws of maintaining their deceptions.

When two people living together working their asses off cannot provide a living for themselves that compares to the single income of their grandparents. And to maintain this level of deception and exploitation is the rigging of elections. I think it won't be long before we see these thieves removed from power and/or put behind bars where they belong.

[yellowdawgdem]

3. It's good to project positive energy

thru this last trial we are enduring. One way of looking at it is that these old geezers causing troubles for us non wealthy folks- well, they are going to pass away at some point, because nobody lives forever. And the promise of ascension, the real promise imo, is that no more lower consciousness entities will be allowed to incarnate on the earth plane. So even if we have to wait for these geezers to live out their life spans, there will not be anymore gray or dark entities here, at least occupying physical bodies.
In addition to that promising news, fewer and fewer right wing repubs are even supporting this cabal. So they are definitely on their way out, like here's your hat what's your hurry.
Stop worrying so much, it only will raise your bloodpressure!

[MissWaverly]

4. I have picked up impressions that change will occur soon

and it will be for the better, that we are at the end of a cycle that was forged a while ago
(maybe the Nixon years) and that once this ends; things will improve. Also the impression I
get is that the different players are locked in so they will not change until they shift.
It's like living with an old car before you trade it in.

[NJCher]

5. they're taking to the streets in Mexico

I watched both the network news and the BBC tonight. It appeared there were millions in the streets. Watch tonight! It will give you the definite sense that the "jig's up!"




Cher

[I Have A Dream]

6. Too bad that this kind of thing hasn't happened in the US for...

the most part. I keep wondering when it will get to that point here. It seems as long as the American people are comfortable, they'll let anything happen to the election process.

Let's hope that the "jig's up!" spreads North as well!

[Cleita]

7. Yes, they are taking to the streets and demanding a recount

in Mexico. When I heard that on Laura Flander's this afternoon, I felt cheered up. Mexico is showing us how to do it! I think there will be more of this both here and in other countries.

[u4ic]

8. Hi windy

Harper's win up here wasn't stolen, it was more punishment for the Liberals, who had a majority for over a decade, and had some pretty shady dealings of their own (esp the sponsorship scandal).

They only have a minority - but the concern for me is that they are ruling like they have a majority - the previous PM and Liberal leader resigned, so they are essentially leaderless at this point. (Parliament isn't in session right now - the Liberals have a leadership convention coming up, and hopefully they will choose an electable leader)

Harper's also spinning the neocon b.s. about defence and terrorism, and even that a North Korean missile could be been destined for Canada. :grr: He is slime personified.

The future concerns me (all round, not just Canada), but the previous election wasn't stolen. :hi:

[cassiepriam]

9. "No snowflake falls in the wrong place" An old zen saying...

I think we are dealing with karmic issues. Collective karma
as well as individual karma. These are lessons for us to learn about greed, corruption, abuse of power. Also lessons about naivety and complacency. We thought America was immune from the baser side of human nature.

We are being taught some very hard and painful lessons. But I am certain none of us will ever forget these lessons, not for all eternity. They have changed us forever.

Let us all learn the lessons we need to learn, and hopefully we can release the karma.

[LaurenG]

10. Well said Cassie

"Let us all learn the lessons we need to learn, and hopefully we can release the karma". So apropos.

[cassiepriam]

11. PS In our next incarnation let's ask to go to another planet. :)

Most of Earth's inhabitants are really
getting on my last nerve :(

[NMDemDist2]

12. ROFL

when DH's having a tough day he looks at me and says "You MADE me come to this misbegotten planet"

:rofl:

[SheilaT]

13. I hate to rain on everyone's parade,

but they WILL steal this next election. Count on it. But don't stop fighting them. We are still in the beginning part of a terrible down-turn that's going to need another decade or more to play out. As pessimistic as I am personally, I cannot stop from helping out progressive candidates, giving money in what I consider the right areas. and so on. Don't give up hope, but do be realistic.

I think the very most important thing to keep in mind is that the current administration came in to power in a coup, and they will not relinquish that power easily, least of all to a free, fair, and honest election. Eventually we will prevail. It's just not going to be very soon.

[cassiepriam]

14. I agree with you.

Quite possible they will steal the next election too.
Why not, they hold all the cards, no one seems to care what
they do. Why would they give up power?

Sociopaths don't just decide to get honest.

Hope for the best, but be prepared for some harsh realities.

[SheilaT]

15. I'm currently reading

the Mark Crispin Miller book Fooled Again and it's rather a frightening read. In one respect there's nothing in it I didn't already know, except that I did not know all the details and fully understand to what extent and lengths they went to to make sure that George W Bush would stay in office. Two years ago I was constantly saying that people were expecting a free, fair and honest election, and that I didn't think that would happen.

I'm still saying it.

There's been a large forgetting of the fact that in the months leading up to the 2004 election, W's approval rating was consistently below 50%. Everyone's forgotten that over and over again two years ago you'd hear people say that in 2000 they'd voted for Bush but were not about to now. Prominent Republicans, and normally Republican newspapers came out against him. Very quickly, all too quickly, it became accepted that W actually won in an election that was presented as free, fair, and honest. It just wasn't true. And remember how at the same time there was rioting in Eastern Europe because of a shaky election? Somehow our mainstream media covered that story without any hint or irony. We should have had rioting in the streets in both 2000 and 2004.

It's probably already much too late to keep this election, and the next few from being stolen.

[LWolf]

16. Hope begins when

you let go of fear, anger, and despair. When you accept that you can control your experience, if not the outer environment. When you choose to find the joy, love, and light where ever you happen to be. When you accept the other without allowing yourself to be thrown off-stride, without taking your eyes off the path, and continue to walk it.

I have, in the last few years, developed a sense that the whole mess our country is in is a metaphysical mess. If you believe that everything is energy, including our thoughts; that what we focus on we actualize, you'll see we've been controlled through emotion. Fear, anger, outrage....caught on a self-perpetuating hamster wheel of negativity that feeds the energy of despair.

I quit watching tv news long before the 2000 selection. To find out what's going on in the world, I glance at print and online headlines, read when something of interest pops up, but spend very little time on the atrocities. I'm aware of them, but they are not controlling me. I browse thread titles online, and dip into very few of them these days. It's not worth it to me to argue with people, Democrats or not, who are determined to make the worst of everything.

Turn the world off for awhile. Breathe, walk, read, listen to music, sing, dance, do whatever brings you joy. Look for the things that will feed your sense of goodness and right, and shine that light wherever you go. Talk, vote, work, campaign....but know that all of that is just the tip of the iceberg, and it's the changing of attitudes by example that will make the real difference.

[japple]

17. Thank you, LWolf, for your very insightful words. I, too, have turned

off the tv and have stopped reading those "news stories" that cause fear, anger, and despair. I read some of the postings on DU LBN but rarely get involved in the discussions. Most of my time at DU is spent with this group, the Cooking and Baking group, and the Pets group. I do read articles by journalists whose work I respect at Alternet, Common Dreams, et, al. And I try to spend my days doing things that bring me joy, like working in my garden, putting up vegetables and making jams and jelly, reading, listening to music, corresponding with friends via e-mail.

It's going to take time for the truly good things that are happening to filter up to the top and for them to be noticed on a large scale. Things are changing, and we can't give up hope now. We're too close to bringing about those changes we've always dreamed about: peace, prosperity for all, a clean and beautiful planet. As Jesse Jackson always says, "Keep hope alive."

[LWolf]

18. You, and the world

are welcome to whatever positive I have to share!

:grouphug: