“I see the light at the end of the tunnel now…
Someone please tell me it’s not a train.”
~from “I See The Light” by Cracker
“I see the light at the end of the tunnel now…For the past six months or so, I’ve spent most of my writing time online using my Twitter account: @FishAndBicycles.
Now, some writers would argue that calling this “writing” is being generous, and there are times when I question it as well. And yet, ultimately I really do believe that there is a value to regularly writing these short, formerly 140 and now 280-character, compositions; forced, as you are, to trim the fat and think creatively about how to say a lot with a little.
BUT, there is one significant drawback of spending so much time on Twitter: the daily barrage of bad news can wear down even the most enthusiastic optimist.
Today started out as one of those days, it was really getting to me, the despair threatening to drag me down. I thought about reposting a post that I wrote back in October 2017 about reaching a saturation point and the impulse to hide one’s head in the sand.
But then, a thought — one I’ve had before and have hoped to explore in writing at some point — changed my direction. A thought that, on my best days, I can actually believe:
The Future Is Unstoppable
…and, the future, despite any appearances to the contrary, will be much, much better.
There’s plenty to complain about when it comes to Hollywood, but one indisputable fact is that movies and TV shows are steadily and increasingly presenting images of a diverse world populated by people of color, powerful women, and non-binary gender identities.
In other words, Hollywood is more reflective of the world we actually live in than it has ever been before, and it’s having a very positive, normalizing effect. Young people who are not brainwashed by bigoted families and communities see diversity and equality as the normal, positive state of things, they are more likely to stand up for and with people of color, to see women as fully equal to men, and increasingly LGBTQ young people are feeling safer and safer coming out and claiming the right to be their genuine selves.
This is the future.
Demographic trends prove it is unstoppable.
Death Throes Are Ugly
At the same time, those who believe in white patriarchal supremacy are trying to fight off the unstoppable, and they are resorting to increasingly brash and violent measures, pushing the boundaries of legal behavior or embracing outright lawlessness and authoritarianism.
But make no mistake. These are death throes. They are ugly, but they are futile.
On My Best Days
Anyway, as I said, that’s what I believe on my best days, and there are other days when these ideas are no solace at all.
“I see the light at the end of the tunnel now…
Someone please tell me it’s not a train.”