Alison Garwood Jones

The audacity of hope: remember that?

Right now hope is in a tense standoff with societal collapse.

Our conflicts are daunting, our problems are real.

Seeing an opening, grifters and mobsters have grabbed the reins.

That elevated sense of the world as it should be has been hijacked by cynics.

You’re an optimist. So, how do you regain your footing when cynics keep picking at your foolish dreams?

How do you avoid being outsmarted when you don’t think like a criminal?

You start by refusing to be intimidated.

You do the work: You ask the hard questions, you look for the patterns, you connect the dots, and you endure the blowback with lots of tea and salt baths.

Then you share your findings far and wide, endure more blowback, and maybe (just maybe) you stem the triumph of evil.

Begin by linking arms with other women and men of integrity.

Feed each other meals and ideas.

Pool your modest resources.

Babysit each other’s kids.

But, above all, keep trying.