Tempered Hope

I’m on disability Social Security. I live in a rent subsidized apartment. I’m socially isolated, and I don’t own or drive a car. A computer glitch could lead to the suspension of my income at any time, and it’s remarkably easy to lose a rent subsidy, something that takes months or years to secure. So homelessness is a real and constant danger. I live in fear of it. And I know I’m not alone. Many have already fallen through the cracks. Many more live on the edge. The mentally ill are especially vulnerable.

My mother was disabled. She was not lazy or good for nothing. She was a good person with a wildly debilitating brain disease known as schizophrenia. It is not something you can just get over. She was at the mercy of the society in which she lived. That society refused to provide her with regular medical care. At the age of 63, she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and died less than three months later. Sadly, what happened to her is not unusual. The lives of others are cut short all the time because of inadequate medical care.

The cost of a college education continues to rise at an alarming rate. Many young people are forgoing the dream of a college education. Some who would have been doctors and engineers will live their lives struggling to get ahead. Many others who chose to go to college will never get out from under the debt. It will eat away at their income making it hard for them to own their own homes, save for retirement and send their kids to college.

We continue to burn fossil fuels, thus funding repressive governments as we do damage to our environment.

I believe these problems and others have political solutions, and I think it’s unacceptable that we continue to ignore these problems because it would be inconvenient for those who benefit from the status quo to address them. The need for change is urgent for many. Some are dying.

But the political will just isn’t there, at least not yet. One of the two major parties in this country utterly denies the problems are real. The other one acknowledges the problems but seems to think the solutions are pipedreams. …maybe, someday, we can do something about those things. I believe the person they’re about to nominate thinks the solutions are, more or less, pipedreams.

However, I have some amount of hope. Not long ago, having a president who was something other than white seemed like a pipedream. Not long ago, it seemed having a female nominee was a pipedream. Not long ago, marriage equality seemed like a pipedream. So did LGBTs serving openly in the military.

When President Obama was elected, he refused to publicly support marriage equality, and he was not all that enthusiastic about ending DADT. But we kept the pressure on, and he evolved. Now his support for LGBT Americans will be a significant part of his legacy.

This November, with my tempered share of hope and with fingers crossed, I will vote for Hillary Clinton to be our next president.