Breakfast, Gramsci, Action

A delicious breakfast this morning--eggs, fried potatoes, black beans, a banana-coconut-ginger smoothie and black coffee. I enjoyed my breakfast. I enjoyed the company I was with--Hillary and Jessi. I enjoyed the warmth of the morning and the taste of the food. I am thankful for these things, these people, and the life I live. That being said, I have neither hope nor faith in the future and am fully aware that the lives of most people are abjectly miserable.

People wonder how hopeless people like me continue to act, to move forward in good faith aspiring to make the world more tolerable, safer, more pleasurable. The answer is simple: the process, the action, the experience of demanding change, of enjoying life is rewarding. A life without trying, despite the futility, is a worthless live. I enjoy my life--therefore I try. I am constantly coming back to Antonio Gramsci's notion of pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will. The journey, the attempt, this is well worth engaging in. Not that I presume we will lose--I simply acknowledge all we have lost: countless species, clean water, clean air, clean soil. Together we can redeem these things through action--not hope. Together, we can love each other, support each other, heal each other--through action--not hope. Together we can build a world we desire.

Lets not hope for it--lets do it!

The Futility of Hip Pessimism

Hating things is easy. There are many things to hate and most of them are well worth it. Finding pleasure can take more effort, more ingenuity. People love to complain--about work, the city they live in, the cultural void, the failed schools, the collapse of the earth, political differences, the lists go on. Sometimes whining becomes hip. Haters are valued as astute, intelligent, and credible. Lovers get ignored. Progressive hip pessimism often leaves a void where pretensions of hope become persuasive and good ideas couched in whining get ignored. When lefties take too seriously Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci's notion of pessimism of the intellect-optimism of the will, they fail to look for the irresistible, the pleasurable, the desirable. Rather, they intelligently criticize almost everything and turn themselves into groaning messiahs martyring themselves to movements that they don't believe could win.