Running lessons: Hold on to hope

In the face of the ugly spectacle unfolding south of the border, not to mention news that climate change is happening faster than anyone predicted and species are going extinct at unprecedented rates, I find it hard to be optimistic these days. I hope I'm wrong but my gut tells me we'll be facing some pretty grim realities in as little as a decade or two. The track we're currently on leads leads more or less directly to an Atwood-esque dystopia.

On the days I feel most pessimistic, I remind myself that - as my dear father-in-law often said - "despair is a sin". Positive change can only happen when people have enough optimism to take action. Put another way, people need to believe positive change is possible to make it happen.

But too much optimism can be a problem too - at least when it becomes an excuse for inaction. Maybe humankind will find solutions for the serious environmental challenges facing us but that doesn't mean we shouldn't each be doing what we can now to walk more lightly on the planet. 

I get why some people don't see it that way. After all, many of us are at a point in our lives where we only expect to live 15-20 years anyway so we don't see ourselves at significant personal risk. But what about younger people? You know, our kids and grand-kids? How will we justify our actions to them in a few years. "Yes, I know I didn't need to drive a series of ridiculous gas-guzzling vehicles, or fly halfway round the world for a vacations, or buy the newest versions of everything, but I worked hard to have those things and I deserve them."

"Deserve". How I hate that word. It appears in my Facebook newsfeed regularly as friends encourage one another to be self-indulgent. "Glad you're having such a great vacation, honey. You deserve it. Of course you should have that snazzy new car. You deserve it." Really? Last time I checked, "deserve" meant you'd done something to earn what you have. The reality is that most of what we Canadians enjoy we got just by being lucky enough to be born in the right place and time. If we'd been born in India or Nigeria or Papua New Guinea instead, chances are our lives would be very different.

No, I don't think the next generation is going to be too impressed with our assertions that we "deserved" to ignore the health of the environment and future generations to satisfy our horrifying addiction to over-consumption.

I know I sound angry. I am angry. And discouraged. There's a big part of me that sometimes wishes we humans wipe ourselves out sooner rather than later so that other creatures on this planet have a fighting chance to survive whatever awaits. In my darkest moments, I wonder why I don't just belly up to the trough myself and take what I can before all is lost.

I don't because I know that, if and when the worst happens, I want to be able to look into my nieces and nephews' eyes and tell them I did what I could to prevent it - that I valued their lives and futures as much as my own. Call me naive, but I think it's the least I can do. 

How does that relate to running and hope, you ask? Well, as dark and depressing as my thoughts are some days, I know the only way through is to hold on to hope - the kind of hope that energizes me to pay attention, believe better is possible, and work for change. Running helps with that by getting me out of my head and into the natural world, where I'm regularly reminded of the wondrous beauty and diversity of this little blue planet and the critters - including we humans - that inhabit it. They (we) truly are worth fighting for. 

The photos I've included in this post are from a recent outing to Kejimkujik Park - a good place to be reminded of just how beautiful our planet still is - particularly in autumn.