Change can happen

What is hope? Hope is an optimistic expectation that positive outcomes will occur, either for oneself or in the world. I believe hope for a better world is important for all of us. I believe hope provides the conduit for everyone to participate, everyone can have a stake in a positive outcome and everyone will benefit.

The problem today is that we live in such a divided society, politics, religion, values, morals are the ingredients we like to say “mine is better than yours.”

I think it can get better. My hope is there is common ground we share. We all have differences but with many things the same. We all want a life filled with happiness, we want jobs to support ourselves and families, we want our children to be healthy and happy, we want to feel safe and wanted. The focus on differences needs to change to focus on shared values for change to happen.

Nelson Mandela suggested there is a multiplication of courage that will make change happen. One person stands up, inspires another to stand up and a chain reaction of courage will create some positive outcomes that we all can benefit from in our lives. Change takes time, always longer than we would like. It’s time to stop pointing fingers at others and take a moment to define my and your steps of courage and stand up, to start this chain reaction of positive change for the betterment of all of us.

Eileen Cummings

Sequim